Dear Spacetravellers, Sci-fi loves the dramatic version of invasion: ships appear, lasers fire, cities explode, heroes run. But if you strip away the movie magic and ask a doctor’s favourite question — “OK… but biologically and logistically, what would really happen?” — planetary war looks very different. And honestly? Much quieter. Much slower. Much more terrifying. Because real invasions aren’t about explosions. They’re about physics and supply chains. First: forget landing troops...
about 21 hours ago • 2 min read
Dear health-conscious friends, If you find it strangely easy to scroll TikTok at midnight but strangely difficult to fall asleep afterwards, you are not alone. Modern screens are fantastic at keeping our brains awake long after our bodies would prefer to be asleep. Here is what is actually going on and what to do about it, without moving to a cabin in the woods. The light problem: blue light and melatonin The first issue is physics. Screens emit a high proportion of blue wavelengths, which...
8 days ago • 2 min read
Dear Spacetravellers, First things first: In this week, Planet Falrus got to number 1 in the Amazon bestseller list for Children's literature. Ok, just in the free book category, but still, quite a big achievement for a little planet :) Science fiction loves its archetypes: the rogue hacker with a twinkle in the eye, the soldier bred for war, the ruler torn between order and control. What’s often forgotten is that many of these archetypes have deep roots in older storytelling traditions —...
8 days ago • 3 min read
Dear health-conscious friends, If you’re reading this with a cup of coffee in hand, you’re in good company. More than two billion people consume caffeine every day, making it the most widely used psychoactive substance on Earth. But what is caffeine really doing inside your brain? The answer starts with a molecule called adenosine. Throughout the day, your brain produces adenosine as a natural byproduct of burning energy. As levels rise, adenosine binds to receptors and signals that it’s time...
15 days ago • 1 min read
Dear Spacetravellers, This week's newsletter is a bit of an emotional one for me. It feels personal. If you have lived under foreign occupation (for example due to war in your country) or even under military or social unrest, perpetrated by people who are your own compatriots, you will understand what I mean. I have shared elsewhere that as a child, I lived through a coup d'état in my country of origin, in Africa. Now, there ARE worse things to experience in life than what I and my family...
15 days ago • 2 min read
Dear Spacetravellers, When we think about “worldbuilding,” our minds often jump to maps, star charts, or resource spreadsheets. But some of the most intricate worlds humans have ever imagined didn’t begin on paper at all—they lived in oral traditions. Many African cosmologies were never written down until outsiders arrived, yet they contained creation stories, metaphysics, political systems, ecological rules, and interdimensional beings that would put entire sci-fi franchises to shame. This...
22 days ago • 2 min read
Dear health-conscious friends, If you’ve spent more than five minutes on health TikTok or nutrition Twitter, you’ve probably heard that seed oils are “toxic,” “inflammatory,” or even “poison.” But then your doctor shrugs and tells you it’s not that deep. So… who do you believe? Let’s break it down without the panic or the propaganda. What We’re Actually Talking About When people say “seed oils,” they usually mean: Soybean oil Canola oil Sunflower oil Corn oil Safflower oil Cottonseed oil...
23 days ago • 2 min read
Dear Spacetravellers, One of the questions I get most often from readers of Attack on Planet Falrus is:“How much of this is actually real?” The short answer? More than you might expect. When I was building Falrus, I wasn’t just inventing a strange world for spectacle—I was pulling directly from real science, real medical phenomena, and real physics that already exist here on Earth (just pushed to their limits). Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the real-world science that shaped the planet,...
29 days ago • 2 min read
Dear health-conscious friends, In today's world of sedentary lifestyles and increased food consumption for whatever reason (no judgment, it is what it is!), it is imperative that we recognise what is going wrong with our lifesytles, in order to act to correct the problem. Insulin resistance doesn’t show up overnight—and that’s what makes it dangerous. Most people have no idea it’s happening until blood sugar is already climbing. Here are the early warning signs your body may be struggling...
29 days ago • 2 min read