Regular readers will know that I recently submitted a short story to the forthcoming Newcon Press anthology, Conflicts. The story has now been edited by Ian Whates and Ian Watson and looks on course for publication later in the year.

I have agreed to join the team of reviewers at Acoustic Magazine, subject to contract. Look out for my reviews in future issues.

Elastic Press are currently running a limited time offer: order a paperback copy of my short story collection The Last Reef & Other Stories and you’ll also receive paperbacks of Another Santana Morning by Mike Dolan and Extended Play edited by Gary Couzens (UK orders only).

Contact Elastic Press for further details: www.elasticpress.com

Over the past 24 hours, I’ve pulled together and submitted a 30,000 word book manuscript. It’s a collection of articles (mainly advice for budding authors), interviews and other pieces of writing, some of which first appeared on this website. It’s rough at the moment and probably needs the attention of an editor, but I’m still proud that I’ve managed to pull it together in such a short time – and I’ll post further developments as they happen.

As well as making for a great headline, this story also happens to be true. According to the BBC News website, scientists have been using satellite photos to locate penguins in the Antarctic – but as the penguins themselves are too small to spot, the boffins have been locating them using the brown stains produced by the birds’ accumulated guano.

Full story here: Link to BBC Science & Environment News.

My mind was stretched this morning by the following passage from an article in h+ magazine:

“They were trying to establish exactly how organic photosynthesis approaches 95% efficiency, whereas the most sophisticated human solar cells operate at only half that. What they discovered is nothing short of remarkable. Using femtosecond lasers to follow the movement of light energy through a photosynthetic bacterial cell, Engel et al. observed the energy traveling along every possible direction at the same time. Instead of following a single trajectory like the electrons on a silicon chip, the energy in photosynthesis explores all of its options and collapses the quantum process only after the fact, retroactively “deciding” upon the most efficient pathway”

Recently, I’ve been enthralled by the new BBC series The Incredible Human Journey, presented by Dr Alice Roberts, which traces the expansion of the human race from the plains of Africa to Europe, Asia and Australia. Dr Roberts is an articulate and engaging host, able to turn the potentially dry subject matter into a life-affirming story of ingenuity and exploration. Recommended.

Watch now on BBC iPlayer