M.J. Rose

What could be more mysterious than the discovery of a rare manuscript in a defunct magic shop’s collection?

The discovery of a rare manuscript created for Houdini, of course!

Enjoy…

Long-lost Lovecraft manuscript penned for Houdini found

by Bonnie Burton (cnet.com)

The man who brought us Cthulhu wrote a book for the man known to escape everything. But if you want to read the unfinished work, it’s going to cost you.

“Nothing could be more exciting to fans of legendary horror author H.P. Lovecraft than the discovery of a rare manuscript in a defunct magic shop’s collection.

But it gets better. “The Cancer of Superstition,” written by Lovecraft in 1926, was commissioned by magician Harry Houdini. A Houdini memorabilia collector found the book and is selling it to the public.

Anyone who wants to read the 31 typewritten pages for themselves can buy the work as part of a Houdini lot from Potter & Potter Auctions in Chicago on April 9.

Previously, most Lovecraft and Houdini scholars believed the book might exist only in outline form since the work was suspended soon after Houdini’s death in October of 1926.

The famous magician’s widow, Beatrice, did not want to pursue the completion of the work after his death…”

For the rest, click here.

Here is a story about a color, or rather, a color that is so dark that it is, in fact, the darkest material ever made:

Scientists Create A “New Black,” The Darkest Material Ever Made
Vantablack is the new black.

“According to experts, Vantablack is as close to a black hole imaginable, as it is so dark that the human eye struggles to discern its shape and dimension.

Created by Surrey NanoSystems, the material is ten times stronger than steel.

Surrey NanoSystems’ chief technical officer, Ben Jensen, pointed out how you would expect to see the foil’s crumpling underneath, but instead the human eye sees nothing…”

For the rest, click here.

Is there anybody out there?

From The Science Explorer,

Strange Repeated Radio Signals Coming From Beyond Our Galaxy, Detected by Astronomers for the First Time
By Johannes Van Zijl

“What could be responsible for emitting these bizarre and repeated radio signals?

Astronomers at McGill University have detected short repeating bursts of radio waves from a mysterious source that is located well beyond the edge of our own Milky Way galaxy. Their finding indicates that these bursts of radio waves must have been emitted by a very powerful source that is capable of producing multiple bursts within a minute. Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are nothing new to astronomers, as FRBs have been detected numerous times in the past, but normally they occur as once-off events.

Paul Scholz, a PhD student at McGill University, was filtering through old results during 2015 from previous observations performed at the Arecibo Radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which is currently the world’s largest radio telescope, when he made a surprising discovery…”

For the rest, click here.