Why Intersectionality in Fiction Matters

In lieu of an abstract, here is an excerpt: Indigenous peoples often say that from maewizhah, or time immemorial, we have gazed upon ae-iko-dawo-dunnauk-mishi-geezhik and created stories that are maumikaud-kummik. In other words, throughout our histories, Native peoples have looked to the heavens, pondered the universe, and composed fantastical tales that, translated literally, are “out of this world.” This is the very definition of speculative fiction. To us, storytellers are artists and medicine people who provide mishkiki: medicine, healing, and sometimes even solidarity — or, as we say in Anishinaabemowin, inauwinidiwin, which means collectively becoming a “group walking in a body.” When these creatives place frontline communities and characters at the heart of their stories, readers can challenge themselves to become inauwinidiwin, or the coming together as one body-mind on our beautiful yet beleaguered Mizzu-kummik-quae, or Mother Earth. About the author: Grace L. Dillon is a professor in the Indigenous Nations Studies Program at Portland State University, and is of Anishinaabe and European descent. She edited Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction and coined the term Indigenous futurisms

Taking the Fiction Out of Science Fiction: A Conversation about Indigenous Futurisms

In our conversation, Dillon talks about key concepts within Indigenous-led science fiction and offers a genealogy of the term “Indigenous Futurisms,” going back to authors like Gerald Vizenor and Diane Glancy; in doing this she provides a precious bibliography at a time when some of the most exciting science fiction writing today is coming from nonwhite authors. She considers stories with topics ranging from technology, environmental justice, and relations between human and other-than-human creatures, showing that thinking with science fiction offers a rich path to decolonize the notion of science itself, freeing up space for political imaginations beyond a one-world future. – Pedro Neves Marques A version of this interview appears in the anthology YWY, Searching for a Character Between Future Worlds: Gender, Ecology, Science Fiction, ed. Pedro Neves Marques (Sternberg Press, 2021)

Acute effects of active breaks during prolonged sitting on subcutaneous adipose tissue gene expression: an ancillary analysis of a randomised controlled trial.

Active breaks in prolonged sitting has beneficial impacts on cardiometabolic risk biomarkers. The molecular mechanisms include regulation of skeletal muscle gene and protein expression controlling metabolic, inflammatory and cell development pathways. An active communication network exists between adipose and muscle tissue, but the effect of active breaks in prolonged sitting on adipose tissue have not been investigated. This study characterized the acute transcriptional events induced in adipose tissue by regular active breaks during prolonged sitting. We studied 8 overweight/obese adults participating in an acute randomized three-intervention crossover trial. Interventions were performed in the postprandial state and included: (i) prolonged uninterrupted sitting; or prolonged sitting interrupted with 2-minute bouts of (ii) light- or (iii) moderate-intensity treadmill walking every 20 minutes. Subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsies were obtained after each condition. Microarrays identified 36 differentially expressed genes between the three conditions (fold change ≥0.5 in either direction; p < 0.05). Pathway analysis indicated that breaking up of prolonged sitting led to differential regulation of adipose tissue metabolic networks and inflammatory pathways, increased insulin signaling, modulation of adipocyte cell cycle, and facilitated cross-talk between adipose tissue and other organs. This study provides preliminary insight into the adipose tissue regulatory systems that may contribute to the physiological effects of interrupting prolonged sitting

The Gravity Collective: A Search for the Electromagnetic Counterpart to the Neutron Star-Black Hole Merger GW190814

We present optical follow-up imaging obtained with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope, Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Nickel Telescope, Swope Telescope, and Thacher Telescope of the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave (GW) signal from the neutron star-black hole (NSBH) merger GW190814. We searched the GW190814 localization region (19 deg$^{2}$ for the 90th percentile best localization), covering a total of 51 deg$^{2}$ and 94.6% of the two-dimensional localization region. Analyzing the properties of 189 transients that we consider as candidate counterparts to the NSBH merger, including their localizations, discovery times from merger, optical spectra, likely host-galaxy redshifts, and photometric evolution, we conclude that none of these objects are likely to be associated with GW190814. Based on this finding, we consider the likely optical properties of an electromagnetic counterpart to GW190814, including possible kilonovae and short gamma-ray burst afterglows. Using the joint limits from our follow-up imaging, we conclude that a counterpart with an $r$-band decline rate of 0.68 mag day$^{-1}$, similar to the kilonova AT 2017gfo, could peak at an absolute magnitude of at most $-17.8$ mag (50% confidence). Our data are not constraining for ''red'' kilonovae and rule out ''blue'' kilonovae with $M>0.5 M_{\odot}$ (30% confidence). We strongly rule out all known types of short gamma-ray burst afterglows with viewing angles $<$17$^{\circ}$ assuming an initial jet opening angle of $\sim$$5.2^{\circ}$ and explosion energies and circumburst densities similar to afterglows explored in the literature. Finally, we explore the possibility that GW190814 merged in the disk of an active galactic nucleus, of which we find four in the localization region, but we do not find any candidate counterparts among these sources.Comment: 86 pages, 9 figure

Understanding the Value of Tumor Markers in Pediatric Ovarian Neoplasms

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of tumor markers for malignancy in girls with ovarian neoplasms. Methods A retrospective review of girls 2–21 years who presented for surgical management of an ovarian neoplasm across 10 children's hospitals between 2010 and 2016 was performed. Patients who had at least one concerning feature on imaging and had tumor marker testing were included in the study. Sensitivity, specificity, and negative and positive predictive values (PPV) of tumor markers were calculated. Results Our cohort included 401 patients; 22.4% had a malignancy. Testing for tumor markers was inconsistent. AFP had high specificity (98%) and low sensitivity (42%) with a PPV of 86%. The sensitivity, specificity, and PPV of beta-hCG was 44%, 76%, and 32%, respectively. LDH had high sensitivity (95%) and Inhibin A and Inhibin B had high specificity (97% and 92%, respectively). Conclusions Tumor marker testing is helpful in preoperative risk stratification of ovarian neoplasms for malignancy. Given the variety of potential tumor types, no single marker provides enough reliability, and therefore a panel of tumor marker testing is recommended if there is concern for malignancy. Prospective studies may help further elucidate the predictive value of tumor markers in a pediatric ovarian neoplasm population

Walking the Clouds An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction

In this first-ever anthology of Indigenous science fiction Grace Dillon collects some of the finest examples of the craft with contributions by Native American, First Nations, Aboriginal Australian, and New Zealand Maori authors. The collection includes seminal authors such as Gerald Vizenor, historically important contributions often categorized as magical realism by authors like Leslie Marmon Silko and Sherman Alexie, and authors more recognizable to science fiction fans like William Sanders and Stephen Graham Jones. Dillon\u27s engaging introduction situates the pieces in the larger context of science fiction and its conventions.Organized by sub-genre, the book starts with Native slipstream, stories infused with time travel, alternate realities and alternative history like Vizenor\u27s Custer on the Slipstream. Next up are stories about contact with other beings featuring, among others, an excerpt from Gerry William\u27s The Black Ship. Dillon includes stories that highlight Indigenous science like a piece from Archie Weller\u27s Land of the Golden Clouds, asserting that one of the roles of Native science fiction is to disentangle that science from notions of primitive knowledge and myth. The fourth section calls out stories of apocalypse like William Sanders\u27 When This World Is All on Fire and a piece from Zainab Amadahy\u27s The Moons of Palmares. The anthology closes with examples of biskaabiiyang, or returning to ourselves, bringing together stories like Eden Robinson\u27s Terminal Avenue and a piece from Robert Sullivan\u27s Star Waka.An essential book for readers and students of both Native literature and science fiction, Walking the Clouds is an invaluable collection. It brings together not only great examples of Native science fiction from an internationally-known cast of authors, but Dillon\u27s insightful scholarship sheds new light on the traditions of imagining an Indigenous future

Hive of Dreams: Contemporary Science Fiction from the Pacific Northwest

From the Northwest Readers series; Contents: Part One: Ursula K. Le Guin, The Good Trip -- Joanna Russ, from The Female Man -- Michael G. Coney, The Byrds -- Octavia Butler, from The Parable of the Sower -- Molly Gloss, from The Dazzle of Day -- Ted Chiang, Story of Your Life -- Ursula K. Le Guin, The Rock That Changed Things -- Part Two: William Gibson, from Neuromancer -- John Varley, from Steel Beach -- Douglas Coupland, from Microserfs -- Neal Stephenson, from The Diamond Age -- Greg Bear, from /Slant -- Richard Powers, from Plowing the Dark -- William Gibson, from Idoru

Indigenous Scientific Literacies in Nalo Hopkinson’s Ceremonial Worlds

Increasingly our critical tradition is recognizing the prevalence of issues of indigeneity in sf. Whether this emerging emphasis reflects keener powers of observation on the part of readers or shifting preferences on the part of writers, it is clear that, as the idealism of a Golden Age melts into the dross of colonial aftermath, sf is beginning to reflect the West\u27s rising awareness that manifest destinies, whatever fashion they wear, wield a violent science in pursuing control and care little for the cultures they displace and erase. Nor is it surprising that a genre noted for its pioneering exploration of subjugations based on race, gender, and sexual orientation would necessarily include the experience of indigenous peoples on its list of social themes. This essay views Nalo Hopkinson\u27s canon as a transition from so-called postcolonial sf to sf that participates in ceremonial worlds, a concept borrowed from First Nations thinking. This transition underscores the increasing contributions of authors whose imaginations extrapolate from an indigenous point of view. The analysis here examines Hopkinson\u27s ceremonial worlds by focusing on her juxtaposition of indigenous scientific literacies in contrast with Euro-American western science. Hopkinson\u27s ceremonial worlds acknowledge the often harsh experience of indigenous peoples while upholding hope that her cautionary tales, if heeded, may succeed in achieving sustainable alternative futures

Introduction: Indigenous Futurisms, Bimaashi Biidaas Mose, Flying and Walking towards You

This is an introduction to a special issue of Extrapolation, a special issue comprised by a collection of essays from ten diverse contributors who extend the praxis of Indigenous Futurisms