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Pâté De Foie Gras (short Story)
''Pâté de Foie Gras'' is a 1956 science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov, originally published by ''Astounding Science Fiction''. Like Asimov's " The Endochronic Properties of Resublimated Thiotimoline", "Pâté de Foie Gras" is a scientific spoof article, updating one of Aesop's Fables, The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs. Plot A Department of Agriculture employee tells of the discovery on a farm in Texas of a goose that lays golden eggs, and how US government and academic researchers try to solve the mystery of the goose. While its eggs are valuable as pure gold, learning how the bird produces the metal is more important. After the scientists realize that the goose is unharmed despite the enzyme-catalyzed nuclear process that converts oxygen-18 to gold-197 producing gamma rays, they discover that it is immune to all radioactivity, converting any unstable isotope to a stable isotope. The goose is "the perfect defense against the atomic age", one researc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (1922–1928)American (1928–1992) , occupation = Writer, professor of biochemistry , years_active = 1939–1992 , genre = Science fiction (hard SF, social SF), mystery, popular science , subject = Popular science, science textbooks, essays, history, literary criticism , education = Columbia University ( BA, MA, PhD) , movement = Golden Age of Science Fiction , module = , signature = Isaac Asimov signature.svg Isaac Asimov ( ; 1920 – April 6, 1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke. A prolific writer, he wrote or edited more than 500 books ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Transmutation
Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one chemical element or an isotope into another chemical element. Nuclear transmutation occurs in any process where the number of protons or neutrons in the nucleus of an atom is changed. A transmutation can be achieved either by nuclear reactions (in which an outside particle reacts with a nucleus) or by radioactive decay, where no outside cause is needed. Natural transmutation by stellar nucleosynthesis in the past created most of the heavier chemical elements in the known existing universe, and continues to take place to this day, creating the vast majority of the most common elements in the universe, including helium, oxygen and carbon. Most stars carry out transmutation through fusion reactions involving hydrogen and helium, while much larger stars are also capable of fusing heavier elements up to iron late in their evolution. Elements heavier than iron, such as gold or lead, are created through elemental transmutations that can ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal in a pure form. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions. Gold often occurs in free elemental ( native state), as nuggets or grains, in rocks, veins, and alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as electrum), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium, and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium (gold tellurides). Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), forming a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion. Gold is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well as with other compounds. Oxygen is Earth's most abundant element, and after hydrogen and helium, it is the third-most abundant element in the universe. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element bind to form dioxygen, a colorless and odorless diatomic gas with the formula . Diatomic oxygen gas currently constitutes 20.95% of the Earth's atmosphere, though this has changed considerably over long periods of time. Oxygen makes up almost half of the Earth's crust in the form of oxides.Atkins, P.; Jones, L.; Laverman, L. (2016).''Chemical Principles'', 7th edition. Freeman. Many major classes of organic molecules in living organisms contain oxygen atoms, such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and fats, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemistry In Fiction
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during a reaction with other substances. Chemistry also addresses the nature of chemical bonds in chemical compounds. In the scope of its subject, chemistry occupies an intermediate position between physics and biology. It is sometimes called the central science because it provides a foundation for understanding both basic and applied scientific disciplines at a fundamental level. For example, chemistry explains aspects of plant growth (botany), the formation of igneous rocks (geology), how atmospheric ozone is formed and how environmental pollutants are degraded (ecology), the properties of the soil on the moon ( cosmochemistry), how medications work (pharmacology), and how to collect DNA eviden ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Humorous Hoaxes In Science
Humour (Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humours (Latin: ', "body fluid"), controlled human health and emotion. People of all ages and cultures respond to humour. Most people are able to experience humour—be amused, smile or laugh at something funny (such as a pun or joke)—and thus are considered to have a ''sense of humour''. The hypothetical person lacking a sense of humour would likely find the behaviour to be inexplicable, strange, or even irrational. Though ultimately decided by personal taste, the extent to which a person finds something humorous depends on a host of variables, including geographical location, culture, maturity, level of education, intelligence and context. For example, young children may favour slapstick such as Punch and Judy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short Stories By Isaac Asimov
Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as the Short Arts, entertainment, and media * Short film, a cinema format (also called film short or short subject) * Short story, prose generally readable in one sitting * ''The Short-Timers'', a 1979 semi-autobiographical novel by Gustav Hasford, about military short-timers in Vietnam Brands and enterprises * Short Brothers, a British aerospace company * Short Brothers of Sunderland, former English shipbuilder Computing and technology * Short circuit, an accidental connection between two nodes of an electrical circuit * Short integer, a computer datatype Finance * Short (finance), stock-trading position * Short snorter, a banknote signed by fellow travelers, common during World War II Foodstuffs * Short pastry, one which is rich in butte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Edge Of Tomorrow (1985 Book)
''The Edge of Tomorrow'' is a collection of short science fiction stories and science essays by Isaac Asimov, published by Tor Books in July 1985. Contents *Foreword by Ben Bova *Introduction by Isaac Asimov *"Unique Is Where You Find It" (story) *"The Eureka Phenomenon" (essay) *"The Feeling of Power" (story) *"The Comet That Wasn't" (essay) *"Found!" (story) *"Twinkle, Twinkle, Microwaves" (essay) *"Pâté de Foie Gras" (story) *"The Bridge of the Gods" (essay) *"Belief" (story) *"Euclid's Fifth" (essay) *"The Plane Truth" (essay) *" The Billiard Ball" (story) *"The Winds of Change" (story) *"The Figure of the Fastest" (essay) *"The Dead Past" (story) *"The Fateful Lightning (essay) *" Breeds There a Man...?" (story) *"The Man Who Massed the Earth" (essay) *" Nightfall (story) *"The Planet That Wasn't" (essay) *"The Ugly Little Boy "The Ugly Little Boy" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the September 1958 issue of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Where Do We Go From Here? (anthology)
Where Do We Go from Here may refer to: Film * ''Where Do We Go from Here?'' (1945 film), an American film directed by Gregory Ratoff * ''Where Do We Go from Here?'' (2015 film), a Scottish film directed by John McPhail Television * '' OWN Spotlight: Where Do We Go From Here?'', a television special by Oprah Winfrey Literature * ''Where Do We Go from Here?'' (novel) or ''Does Anyone Ever Listen?'', a 1998 young-adult novel by Rosie Rushton * '' Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?'', a 1967 book by Martin Luther King, Jr. * ''Where Do We Go from Here?'' (anthology), a 1971 science fiction anthology edited by Isaac Asimov * ''Where Do We Go from Here?'', a 1938 Broadway play by Dwight Taylor * "Where Do We Go from Here?", an essay by Willy Ley in '' SF '58: The Year's Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy'' Music Albums * ''Where Do We Go from Here'' (album), by Pillar, 2004 * ''Where Do We Go from Here?'' (album) or the title song, by Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Complete Stories (Asimov)
''The Complete Stories'' is a discontinued series intended to form a definitive collection of Isaac Asimov's short stories and novels. Originally published in 1990 (Volume 1) and 1992 (Volume 2) by Doubleday, it was discontinued after the second book of the planned series. Altogether 88 of Asimov's 383 published short stories are collected in these two volumes. Volume 1 The first volume consists of the stories previously collected in '' Earth Is Room Enough'', ''Nine Tomorrows'', and '' Nightfall and Other Stories'' (but not the commentary from ''Nightfall and Other Stories''). In 2001, Broadway Books published a new edition of the first volume (hardback: , paperback: ). Volume One contains the following short stories: # The Dead Past # The Foundation of S. F. Success # Franchise # Gimmicks Three # Kid Stuff # The Watery Place # Living Space # The Message # Satisfaction Guaranteed # Hell-Fire # The Last Trump # The Fun They Had # Jokester # The Immortal Bard # Somed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asimov's Mysteries
''Asimov's Mysteries'', published in 1968, is a collection of 14 short stories by American writer Isaac Asimov, almost all of them science fiction mysteries (although, as Asimov admits in the introduction, some are only borderline). The stories were all originally published in magazines between 1954 and 1967, except for "Marooned off Vesta", Asimov's first published story, which first appeared in 1939. Four stories in the collection feature the character of Wendell Urth, who is a leading extra-terrologist (an expert on alien worlds and life originating on them). Urth is eccentric in that he has a phobia of all mechanical forms of transport (an exaggeration of Asimov's own aversion to flying). Physically Urth resembles Norbert Wiener. Urth appears in the stories when he is consulted by an agent of the Terrestrial Bureau of Investigation, H. Seton Davenport, in cases which have him baffled – a parallel with the way in which Inspector Lestrade consults Sherlock Holmes. In a fifth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Only A Trillion
''Only a Trillion'' is a collection of ten science essays and three scientific spoof articles by Isaac Asimov. It was the first collection of science essays published by Asimov. It was first published by Abelard-Schuman in 1957. A paperback edition published by Ace Books in 1976 included updates of outdated material (re-issued in 1980). The book was also published under the title ''Marvels of Science'' by Collier Books in 1962. The title refers to the number of atoms of astatine-215 in the top 10 miles of the Earth's crust of the North and South American continents – only a trillion. Contents # The Atoms That Vanish (first published in ''Change!'', 1957) # The Explosions Within Us (original article) # Hemoglobin and the Universe (first published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'', Feb. 1955) # Victory on Paper (first published in ''Astounding'', Sept. 1955) # The Abnormality of Being Normal (first published in ''Astounding'', May 1956) # Planets Have an Air About Them (first publi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
