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Julia Ostmann

Julia F. P. Ostmann writes from Southern California about nineteenth-century mushrooms, hybrid burritos, and brain science. Next year sheâ€™s excited to move into Stephen Hawkingâ€™s old dorm at Cambridge, where she’ll be studying history and philosophy of science. If you follow her at @JuliaOstmann, she will probably retweet you.

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Julia Ostmann

Feb 14, 2017

Weekly Geekery

The hot young things of science fiction. Avoid IKEA with your lover today. Love, loss, and a spritz of psychology.
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Julia Ostmann

Feb 7, 2017

Weekly Geekery

He loves me, he loves me not: science fiction’s relationship with L. Ron Hubbard. Babies will stop the bullies! The key to reckoning with climate change and nuclear bombs? Stories.
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Julia Ostmann

Jan 31, 2017

Weekly Geekery

The big bad wolf’s name is Big Data. Michael Chabon messes with our memories. Snape was always a little crabby…
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Julia Ostmann

Jan 24, 2017

Weekly Geekery

Writers gonna smoke (smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke). Find a Swedish latte papa to father your kids, says science. Fiction loves it some talking trees.
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Julia Ostmann

Jan 17, 2017

Weekly Geekery

Ladies: we’re more likely than men to cannibalize. Diversity dilemmas and the Hollywood sci-fi industrial complex. Oedipal orcas? Male killer whales need menopausal mom to survive.
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Julia Ostmann

Jan 10, 2017

Weekly Geekery

Lizard brain, meet the one-sentence novel. Sea slugs: the key to why you’ll remember this article. Are millenials “empty inside”? New books reveal the truth!
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Julia Ostmann

Jan 3, 2017

Weekly Geekery

Are cheetahs sprinting toward extinction? Chinese-American writer Ken Liu brings “silkpunk” to science fiction. Self-publishing coaches—the new sexy in a Fifty Shades world.
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Julia Ostmann

Dec 27, 2016

Weekly Geekery

Your new chatbot therapist recommends volunteering. Womp womp: those productivity hacks are making you less productive. A quick-and-dirty primer to the “Anthropocene.”
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Julia Ostmann

Dec 20, 2016

Weekly Geekery

Is Star Wars the Death Star of science fiction? Rat nirvana: being tickled till your ears turn pink. 250-million-year-old rocks might soothe science-religion conflict.
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Julia Ostmann

Dec 13, 2016

Weekly Geekery

Want to craft spy thrillers? Learn science writing. The science infusing Fantastic Beasts, and where to find it. This is why you talk like a cowboy. Turn off Beyoncé if you want to actually write today—lyrics hurt productivity.
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Julia Ostmann

Dec 6, 2016

Weekly Geekery

Why Finnish women matter to the history of science fiction. Holiday science books: let visions of squid and sarcophagi dance in their heads. Astronauts survive thanks to a black female mathematician. This robot could make your toddler Mark Zuckerberg. (Minus the…
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Julia Ostmann

Nov 29, 2016

Weekly Geekery

Don’t dis slang—it’s older than you are. Regarding the pain of fish (and humanities-loving robots). Fake scientists are real. Sexism messes up men’s mental health, too. Aimee Bender and the Ladies of Contemporary Fairytale.