Dr. Esteban

Science is your friend.

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Dinner in Desert Bluffs

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A walk under the full moon with Esteban. In the desert, light shining on the sand and Esteban’s beautiful hair. Possibly with them holding hands or kissing or… Kevin made himself snap out of the fantasy, hoping that Esteban hadn’t been staring at him or waiting for an answer for too long.

"I’m sure it’s just swell, Esteban. We’d have to wear warm clothes, because the heat of the sun would be gone and we’d freeze in so many ways. Maybe some day StrexCorp and its many brilliant scientists will manage to make the sun be up all the time. Don’t you think so?"

He wasn’t scared of the dark and the many things that skittered around in it, but like many Bluffians Kevin felt that everything was much better when the sun was up. More hours in a day meant that more could be done. Twice as much in a day would be such a blessing.

"How about that walk and then we could go to yours and I could see your experiments? I’d really like to. I’m certain they’re wonderfully grotesque."

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Esteban opened his mouth to tell Kevin why that wouldn’t be a very good idea, since the Earth’s magnetic shield would falter if the planet stopped spinning on its axis, or how that would mean that one side of the planet would turn to permafrost while the other baked. He also left out how they would all more than likely die in that event anyway. This was too nice of a night for him to go overboard with science.

Although he did start to wonder if there weren’t someway to brighten the light that bounced off the moon to use as a sort of broad beam laser—that wouldn’t cut or burn anyone of course—to light Desert Bluffs 24/7. Hmmm science.

“I think a walk and looking at my experiments is an excellent idea.” Esteban got up, holding his hand out to Kevin, seeing no reason to deny his affection and/or attraction for the eager young man. He was simply adorable, and he knew they’d be having a wonderful time talking about his starfish fingered fellows. 

strexinsideme

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Dinner in Desert Bluffs

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Kevin’s eyes widened at Esteban’s confession. Now, that was a lot more than miniature people or fierce robots. That was experimentation that might even be highly illegal and also very interesting. Esteban had to be one of the smartest people he knew. “Really?” He lowered his voice, leaning closer as well. “Are you making people who can stick to the walls, or… what ability does the starfish have that you want them to have?”

To be honest, Kevin didn’t know too much about what a starfish was, but he did have a vague idea about it. Which included sticking to walls and having many arms. And something about the ocean… Though he’d never seen one of those and wasn’t to sure about that either. Did oceans even exist? Who knew?

"Me? I don’t do a lot more than work, but… when I have some time off, I love going to the park. It’s not exciting as experiments. But I like the sunflowers there." He picked at his own food, thinking. "I like going to the edge of town, step outside for a moment and dig my fingers into the sand. It’s the simple things." He shrugged. "They’re calming. I need calm after a stressful and productive day at work."

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“Wall sticking, limb regeneration…Starfish are really fascinating creatures. They vomit out their stomachs when they feed,” he said matter of factly not caring that anyone in the diner could hear him. He was a scientist, and he was bound to bring up distasteful subjects over a meal. It was his nature.

“To have those abilities combined with a human mind is almost inconceivable. I can’t wait to make it work. So far it hasn’t gone as well as I’ve planned, but Strexcorp does make wonderful limb replacements in the robotics department.” He finally stopped his exposition to listen to the things that Kevin enjoyed and smiled.

“I like sunflowers too and the seeds of course. I don’t remember the last time I went out of town. I order my supplies off my computer, and they’re delivered to my lab or apartment. It’s very convenient.” He bit his lip and then took a big bite of his dinner, chewing it carefully. “We should go to the desert on the next full moon. I’m sure it’s lovely.” 

strexinsideme

[stexcorpscienceisgood-blog]

Dinner in Desert Bluffs

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"Oh gosh, really? What a horrid accident. I sure hope none of the other hosts get eaten by something… Though drowning does sound worse. There’s not much chance of that at the station though." Kevin seemed entirely sincere in what he said and in his concern for Esteban’s poor dead colleague. It was the kind of sincerity that was very useful for radio.

"I’d love any help you want to give. It’s not about politics though, or… at least I don’t think so? It’s been so long since there’s been a Voice, but from the things I’ve read and heard, it’s about being chosen. So… I have to be noticed first, somehow." He was sure that he was on his way though. The first step was his little show and the next would be to talk to one of the other hosts and see if he couldn’t be moved to a better spot and to a better time in the radio schedule.

[stexcorpscienceisgood-blog]

“Well I hope you get noticed then. I’m not really sure how it works of course. Strexcorp is very political in nature. You have to be popular to get anywhere. If you’re not, you can be replaced. That’s why I always keep a big smile on my face and try to do the best job that I can.” He felt chosen in his own way. If Strexcorp hadn’t recruited him in elementary school, where would be be now? He certainly wouldn’t be working his way up the ranks of scientists the way he was. He might have ended up teaching a high school biology class in Night Vale—now that was a nightmare.

“So tell me,” he asked, leaning closer across the table as he dipped one of his fries into his pool of Strexcorp Ketchup. “What do you do when you’re not working to become the voice?” Esteban bit his lip, and glanced to make sure that no one was listening to them too closely. “I’ve got a lab at home. I’m trying to make a human/starfish hybrid.” 

strexinsideme

[stexcorpscienceisgood-blog]

askfirstofficerspock

hnuionin'

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Testing

strexinsideme

Let's see if this works. 

[bbsrc]

[bbsrc]

The new IPCC Climate Change Report is just out. Could new sources of energy help combat climate change?

Meet the Gribble

This little critter could help power cars of the future by turning wood into liquid fuel. 

http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/industrial-biotechnology/2012/121128-f-meet-the-gribbles.aspx

Image: Laura Michie with thanks to Dr Alex Ball for permission to use the confocal microscopy facilities at The Natural History Museum.

[expose-the-light]

Slow Life: A Macro Timelapse of Coral, Sponges and Other Aquatic Organisms Created from 150,000 Photographs

[stexcorpscienceisgood-blog]

Dinner in Desert Bluffs

[strexinsideme]

Esteban should really ease back on the compliments, since Kevin was getting flustered. “That’s… That’s so nice of you to say.” He picked on his sleeve, bright eyes focused on Esteban. “I don’t want to be a host. I mean… I do! But mostly I want to be a Voice. -The- Voice of Desert Bluffs. Can you imagine? There hasn’t been one here for a while and I know I’m overly ambitious, but it would be so wonderful to speak to everyone and have them listen to me as well.”

He wasn’t too clear on what it would take to be one, but still… It was a dream Kevin had and his mission was to work very hard until he got as close to that goal as he could.

"It’s easier to become a host, of course. All I would have to do is to somehow replace the ones we have, one by one. The first one had an accident… Um. I’m sure you remember that I told you about that? I accidentally slammed him to the floor and he didn’t get up again."

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“It’s horrible when that sort of thing happens. The scientist that had my position before me met a tragic end as well. He fell into a vat of Strex Super Chunky Peanut Butter at our nutritional facility, and then he was eaten by rats that had escaped from one of the behavioral sciences labs.” Esteban knew that it hadn’t been an accident that Dr. Charles had tumbled into the chunky peanut butter goodness, but being a good sport, he had given the man a hand out of the gooey mess. “It could have been worse of course. Dr. Charles could have drowned in the peanut butter instead.”

Esteban knew that Kevin was ambitious, but he hadn’t realized how far up the food chain the young man wanted to go. It certainly helped to explain the fresh blood stains on his clothes and the bright smile on his face though. “If there’s anything I can do to help you become the Voice of Desert Bluffs, Kevin, you let me know. I’m not terribly involved in politics or whatever it is that you do to become the Voice, but I can always provide scientific evidence of how you’d be perfect for the job.” 

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Dinner in Desert Bluffs

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Kevin didn’t find this type of discussion gruesome in the least, meeting the inclusion of casually exploding brains with a smile and no concern at all. “I hope we have a lot of lunches too! I don’t understand most of what you’re talking about, I have to admit that, but… I like listening to you. Science is so fascinating.” Especially when it included the kind of projects Esteban was working on. Or… just Esteban in general.

He ordered an omelette and curly fries for himself, along with Strex brand vitamin water for that extra burst of energy.

"Oh, um… I’m not surprised that you didn’t listen to my show. You’re so productive." A slight blush colored Kevin’s cheeks. Awesome. Esteban was sure his tiny radio show was awesome! “I talked about community morale and news and… It’s nothing remarkable, Esteban. I’m not even a host yet, it’s only practice, a step towards what I aspire to be.”

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“I don’t listen to that other guy at all. His voice makes me sleepy,” Esteban said with another easy smile. He wasn’t lying. He remembered waking up with a slice of ham stuck to his face when he’d fallen asleep over his lunch at his desk in the lab. He’d had to eat a handful of StrexEnergy and wash it down with StrexWater, but that was OK because he’d been very productive for the three days he was awake after that. Who needs sleep when you have important work to do?

“You’re much more informative and entertaining.” He bit his lip before taking a drink and thought about the reasons why the boring guy was the host and not Kevin. It certainly couldn’t be a question of talent. “I would listen to you every day if I could. What would you have to do to become the full time host? That is if it’s what you want to do with your life.” 

[flameraven]

So I listened to the episode for a second time today, and…this happened.

I only intended to color it, and then I thought it would be funny to add text, and… then I might have gotten carried away. Just a little.

I’m kind of tempted to do a whole fake packaging mock-up for this thing at some point. Not that I have time.

(StrexCorp is not responsible for any nightmares or injuries caused by its perfectly safe, age-appropriate toys.)

[fookanin-deactivated20140530]

quick doodle of a very chipper Kevin

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Dinner in Desert Bluffs

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After Kevin had explained that he was indeed hungry and that they could have another tour some other time, Esteban escorted him safely past security and out of the building. The diner was only a short walk away, so it was a matter of minutes before they were both seated at a nice table in the diner.

Kevin looked around with curiosity, but as the diner wasn’t filled with giant robots or miniature people, his attention soon returned to Esteban. He had the chance to study the good scientist more closely now, something he very much enjoyed. Kevin wasn’t exactly subtle about it, however. He leaned his cheek in the palm of his hand, a dreamy sort of expression on his face.

Those locks of hair! Those deep and dark eyes! Oh gosh… and those lips. How lucky he was to be having a perfectly platonic and not-at-all-a-date dinner with someone as dashing and bright.

Oh wait. Was he talking? “Uh. What was that, Esteban?”

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“—and that’s how you combine recumbent DNA.” Esteban met Kevin’s dreamy smile with one of his own. He loved talking about science, and it didn’t matter to him in the slightest that Kevin had been distracted by something or other. “Don’t worry about it, Kevin. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of lunches and dinners to talk about gene splicing and how quickly a brain will explode in a microwave.”

He saw nothing wrong whatsoever with such gruesome discussions as he ordered the meatloaf, gravy smothered French fries and a root beer float for his dinner. There wasn’t anything he could talk about that would be as nasty as the lumps of gum stuck beneath the table of their booth after all.

“So what did you talk about on your show, Kevin?” He asked leaning forward and propping his chin on his hand in a mirror image of Kevin. “I don’t always get to listen when I’m working, which is a shame since I’m sure it was awesome.” 

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Dinner in Desert Bluffs

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He followed Esteban to the elevator, grabbing on to the railing as instructed. The scientist was right; the speed of the elevator was enough for Kevin’s stomach to feel like it was still left behind with the miniature people. His ears ached in an unpleasant way as well, but none of those things made his enthusiasm any less once they moved off the elevator and into the new level.

This room was bigger than the last room. There was plenty of space, more than enough room for robots of various sizes and builds. There was rows of parts against the far wall and people were fetching, testing and discarding parts as needed.

Kevin’s eyes were wide as he walked towards one of the closest prototypes. This one was close to finished and it didn’t look much like the droids he saw all the time in library. It was fairly human shaped, with the same flexible joints. It didn’t have skin or hair or anything like that, but Kevin wasn’t sure if it should have that anyway. Did robots even need that?

"What is this one going to be for? I like the eyes on it, they’re nifty. They’re like little cameras, aren’t they?"

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“Cameras, scanners, that can see through solid objects and infrared in most cases,” Esteban said as he surveyed the progress on several of the prototypes. He was quite fond of the big construction size robots. They’d be very helpful when they got to working on the new StresCorp tower at the center of town. “Those big ones are to be used for building, but we need to find a good quarry in the area to cut the blocks from. They have lasers for cutting, and they can lift 10 tons each.”

Esteban wasn’t an expert on robotics, and he was only involved because they had been considering putting human brains in some of them to make them smarter and more productive. A human was much easier trained than a robot. He was looking forward to those experiments, but he couldn’t tell Kevin about those yet.

“Are you hungry?” He asked as they stood before an exo-skeleton type robot that could be controlled by a human inside it. The shiny metallic skin reflected the lights overhead, and Esteban thought it was the prettiest in the lab. “We should probably head to the diner before we run out of time on your visitor pass. Don’t want to be in the elevator if your time runs out.” 

[littleulvar]

Welcome to Desert Bluffs

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Dinner in Desert Bluffs

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"Really? Thank you, Esteban! I’d keep them in the cage and feed them and everything, don’t worry. Maybe I’d even be able to make them productive. I could bring them to work so they’re not alone. But… maybe it’s better to get two boys or two girls? So at least there’s no more of them if they get physical." He straightened up, meeting Esteban’s smile and bright eyes. "If you agree, of course. I haven’t had pets before."

Like Esteban, he’d been too busy for something like that. What he could remember of his life before becoming an intern had mostly been studies. There was a lot he didn’t remember very clearly or at all, but Kevin was sure he’d been productive. It was mandatory, after all, and he was very loyal and hard at work usually.

This dinner and tour was a pleasant diversion.

"Robots next, Esteban?" He resisted the urge to take Esteban’s hand and drag him along in his enthusiasm, mostly because he didn’t know how the scientist would feel about that. 

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“I’ll ask my supervisor about it. We’re going to run out of space in the lab soon, and it would be interesting to see what they do when they’re separated and forced to create their own social environment.” Esteban decided it would be best not to talk about the large group from the first experiment that had somehow escaped from the labs and run off across the desert. He assumed they’d been eaten by snakes and eagles, but one never knew.

It wasn’t his fault they’d escaped of course. That was his predecessor’s mistake. He wasn’t sure what had happened to him either. There were rumors about him and his team being forced to work in a string of convenience stores along the highway where they were forced to eat old corn dogs, stale pizza and drink flat Mountain Dew. They weren’t allowed to do any science there either. The thought of it would have made Esteban cry if he was capable of that.

“Robots are a few levels underground. Be prepared for your ears to pop. The elevator’s right this way.” His stomach growled reminding him that they still had dinner to go to, but there was time for that. He gave another DNA sample to the elevator’s key pad and then they were on their way. “Hold onto the rails. It goes down very, very fast.” 

[bbsrc]

Lasers light the way to new drugs

Look beyond the pretty lights and lasers and you will see a Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Array; a special type of model microscope that allows for multiple drug tests to be run simultaneously.

The test works by putting a drug and marker proteins inside an artificial cell, and then measures the effect the drug has on the speed that ions move into the cell.

This equipment, although only a concept device, could be key to new drug developments.

Research performed under Mark Wallace: http://wallace.chem.ox.ac.uk/.

Images taken by BBSRC-funded James Berridge at Oxford University.

For more BBSRC-funded research go to: http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/home/home.aspx

Or for some images looking down a light microscope go to: http://tmblr.co/ZtJ7bq16-Vzls.

[stexcorpscienceisgood-blog]

Dinner in Desert Bluffs

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"I love robots," Kevin said, almost bouncing a little. "Are they going to be like the droids at the library or more like people?" 

He kept in step with Esteban, observing the lab door ritual with interest. Especially the part where the scientist put his thumb in his mouth. It stirred up all kinds of thoughts that Kevin wasn’t entirely sure were allowed. Or correct, in any way. Better not linger on that, so Kevin turned his attention to the opening doors and to the cages inside the room.

"Oh golly… they’re adorable!" Kevin rushed over to one of the cages, peeking in at the tiny people. "Teeny tiny clothes and little spreadsheets on their computers! They are very industrious. Hello tiny people. I’m Kevin." He waves down at them, getting some small waves back. He’s entirely too fascinated, watching teens rush through hamster tubes to visit other cages and small dogs and their masters go for a run on the wheels. "Esteban… Can I have one? Or two? Or fifty?"

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Esteban loved that Kevin loved robots and that he was if possible more excited about the tiny people in their little plastic city. He was nearly bouncing on his own feet, which made his yellow StrexCorp trainers squeak on the exceptionally clean lab floors. He stood next to Kevin as he waved at the tiny workers, a huge smile on his face.

“I might be able to release some of the teenagers to you. They aren’t very productive, and they seem to want to spend all their time sending texts to each other and talking on social networks.” Esteban tapped on a corner in the tubes where a pair of the teenagers was involved in inappropriate behaviors. “They also seem to think that they can mate whenever they want.”

He couldn’t remember being like that when he was a teenager. Esteban was far too busy studying to become the scientist that he was today to be bothered with networking and canoodling. “StrexCorp thinks we can increase the work force by hundreds with using very few resources if the miniaturization works out.”