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Tag: med

4dec25

Published December 4, 2025 by Warren Ellis

He jumped into bed for some attention when he heard my alarm go off. When I stopped making with the head strokes so I could get up, he reached over and smacked me around the face to let me know who the boss is.

TODAY:

OPERATIONS: right now? god knows
STATUS: up a little late today, under 8hrs sleep, it’s dark, I just did a high-cacao protein shake to try and kickstart myself
READING: CODEX 1962, Sjon (UK) (US+). 
LISTENING:


MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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morning computer loops

Published November 25, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Shusei Nagaoka / Androla in Labyrinth | 1984 |

Scientists in Switzerland have created a robot the size of a grain of sand that is controlled by magnets and can deliver drugs to a precise location in the human body, a breakthrough aimed at reducing the severe side effects that stop many medicines from advancing in clinical trials…

Fucking finally. I remember talking about this at the Architectural Association probably fifteen years ago.

Work has begun on a looped Christian landmark named the Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer, which was designed by UK studio Snug Architects to rise over 50 metres in Warwickshire.

I wasn’t sure what made this Christian art, as it’s obviously a Mobius loop:

Set to be built near Coleshill, the monument will be made up of 188 differently shaped precast concrete elements clad in one million white bricks.

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Each brick on the looping wall will represent the story of an answered prayer, which visitors will be able to read via a mobile app.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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telemetry 1nov25

Published November 1, 2025 by Warren Ellis

On All Hallow’s Eve, Jennifer Lucy Allan turns the cards and listens for what they reveal, tracing sonic lines across the tarot deck. From the ghostly atmospherics of William Basinski’s Wheel of Fortune, to the arcane explorations of early electronic pioneer Ruth White and Swiss krautrock mystic Walter Wegmüller, the spread unfolds in unexpected ways, its order uncertain, its juxtapositions surprising. Expect new sounds from Argentinian artist aylu, whose spiritually-charged album journeys from personal struggle to collective resistance, as well as slow-motion noise conjured by New Zealand’s drone trio Surface of the Earth.

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morning computer space brains

Published September 29, 2025 by Warren Ellis

Millo and Seth Globepainter.

“The key is to understand how my body works and work with it, not against,” she explains. “I know I’m crap in the mornings, whether I had enough sleep or not. I wake up at 8, but I generally tackle admin, emails, and social media for work, rather than scrolling endlessly. Then, past 1pm, I go into full work mode.”

This self-awareness pays dividends. Sandrine says she can achieve four to five hours of uninterrupted deep work, excepting toilet breaks, by aligning demanding creative tasks with her peak energy periods.

Expert tips on getting into creative flow (and staying there)

Scientists studied the cognitive behavior of astronauts who have spent six months on board the International Space Station — and made some fascinating yet ominous discoveries.

…a series of tests revealed that their cognitive abilities slowed down while in space, “suggesting that processing speed, visual working memory, sustained attention, and risk-taking propensity may be the cognitive domains most susceptible to change in Low Earth Orbit for high-performing, professional astronauts,” the researchers wrote.

So astronauts’ brains malfunction. Great news.

Bonus round: microgravity activates “hidden, ancient sections of DNA called the “dark genome.” We didn’t have enough to worry about. There’s a Dark Genome now.

morning computer: some useful things first thing in the day.

My free weekly newsletter is at https://orbitaloperations.beehiiv.com/

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3sep25

Published September 3, 2025 by Warren Ellis

TODAY:

OPERATIONS: Hitting my ancient iPad 2 with sticks to make its Downcast app work properly. I think the machine may have finally crapped out. Production and release schedules tentatively set. Today is scripting and hopefully getting back into a prose piece I’ve been fiddling with.
STATUS: 8hrs 8m sleep, but my body thinks autumn is here and is telling me to hibernate. Inbox 95. Browsing for new winter clothes. Reminder to self that I need to clean all my winter boots. Wearing the Timex Expedition Scout today, my signal to myself that I’m staying at least partly disconnected until 5pm.
READING: OUR DEBTS TO THE PAST by Ed James (UK) (US+)
LISTENING: Life is Exhausting by The Void Wanderer

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company or Inkwell Management. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter.

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marks 2sep25

Published September 2, 2025 by Warren Ellis

“The most likely scenario is that the severed upper limbs were trophies taken from the bodies of enemies fallen in battle or raids immediately after death and brought to the village. Heads and hands seem to be the most common human trophies documented in the archaeological record, although written and ethnographic sources often refer to other body parts, including soft tissues which would not generally preserve, such as scalps, ears, or genitals,” the authors write.

Disney is suddenly freaking out about losing its “boy” audience. No, really—they’ve finally noticed that the demographic they’ve spent the last decade ignoring might actually matter.

Variety is reporting that the studio has been quietly putting the word out to producers and writers: bring us films that can lure young men (ages 13–28) back into the fold. That Gen Z demo has been drifting for years, preferring video games and viral meme cinema (“Minecraft”) to whatever Marvel or Star Wars are serving up.

The United States may be losing its edge in mRNA technology­­.

The technology, which powered life-saving COVID-19 vaccines and is now rocketing new cancer therapeutics forward, will soon undergo a scientific slowdown. On August 5, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it would wind down mRNA vaccine development under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA.

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Lepodisiran

Published April 2, 2025 by Warren Ellis

From the Economist newsletter:

Cardiologists reported that an experimental drug, lepodisiran, manufactured by Eli Lilly, an American pharmaceutical company, could lower by 94% the blood’s level of a genetically inherited particle that greatly increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The promising midstage trial results will now be tested in large clinical trials. An estimated 1.4bn people worldwide have elevated levels of the particle, Lp(a).

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27mar25

Published March 27, 2025 by Warren Ellis

The sun is out. Not sure I’ll have the time to make the most of it, myself, but he’s rolling around on the grass like a happy idiot.

🌐

OPERATIONS: Quick rewrite on deck, some breakdowns to knock out, wrapping up Sunday’s newsletter, a hundred emails to process – which I’m about to do, and maybe send some more, as I continue to fail to try to be better about being in contact with people.
STATUS: a geophysical artist I know has sent me an email entitled “cave cameras,” so god knows what he’s done this time. A few moments of frustration last night with my phone last night, my usual complaint that nothing on it works the way I want it to – why on earth would Fitbit not be accessible by Apple Health? Why do so few app makers produce widgets for their apps? Why isn’t this goddamn thing a glanceable terminal?


READING: THE NOTEBOOK, Roland Allen (UK) (US+)
LISTENING:

THINKING ABOUT:

When the copper returned to the station at the end of the beat, the duty officer could quickly inspect the notebook to verify that he had indeed performed his duty. That indoor role solidified into the rank of ‘inspector’; the officer whom we think of as an investigator was, originally, merely there to check the paperwork.

THE NOTEBOOK

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter. Now: DESOLATION JONES: THE BIOHZARD EDITION, THE DEPARTMENT OF MIDNIGHT audio drama podcast, THE STORMWATCH COMPENDIUM. Forthcoming 2025: FELL: FERAL CITY new printing, THE AUTHORITY Compact Edition, The LIGHTS OUT Anthology.

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3aug24

Published August 3, 2024 by Warren Ellis

Pictured: today’s garden work.

🌐

OPERATIONS: there is NO SIGNAL in the garden. It’s basically the 1970s out there, currently – continuing local network issues. Briefly organising delivery schedules for artists, publishers and myself and adding pending production deals to the boards
STATUS: Inbox 99, 7hrs 46mins sleep, sleeping heart rate of 64 (this is a note to self), readiness score of 86 which means I should be able to dig up some trees as well as cutting and lopping some back, and I will likely deprecate these details from STATUS next week

READING: EVERYTHING IS CINEMA: THE WORKING LIFE OF JEAN-LUC GODARD, Richard Brody.
THINKING ABOUT: from the Godard book:

I remember Godard asking me, for a scene of a car arriving at a railway crossing: “I only want the sound of the match.” Ordinarily, one would have put the sound of the car in motion and then braking, the character reaching for his cigarette then lighting it. This practice lent the voices and the discrete sound effects a peculiar intimacy, as if, like Bruno, the viewer were experiencing not a moment in full but a particular, keen, and pointed detail as Bruno remembers it.

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter. Forthcoming 2024: THE DEPARTMENT OF MIDNIGHT, DESOLATION JONES: THE BIOHZARD EDITION, FELL: FERAL CITY new printing. 2025: THE STORMWATCH COMPENDIUM.

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