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Construction workers in Shanghai moved a building in a way never seen before: they walked it down the block. (Watch the video. It’s incredible.)

The building, a primary school built in 1935, was in the way of the development of a commercial center. Traditional methods of moving a building wouldn’t work because of the school’s shape.

Workers raised the building on two hundred small, slidable pistoned platforms, attaching each to the building’s bottom. These were synced up to move the building down the street over eighteen days.

An interesting story could be about the building itself–a cross between The Giving Tree and One Hundred Years of Solitude. It would cover the entire lifetime of the building, starting with the first students and culminating with the near-future students, using technology the building deems as futuristic novelties.

The movement of the school down the street could be the crisis towards the end of the novel. The person who comes up with the idea is a former student. They watched the building–which has a life of its own–save a trespassing squirrel by performing the same step-wise action with the floor tiles, depositing the animal outside.

The story doesn’t have to take place in China. It could take place in any country, showing the unique history of different locales. The key would be including the vast history between 1935 to present-day, showing the changing culture through the building’s eyes and the students’ changing demographics.

This particular story could have a sequel set in the far future with hovercrafts and advanced wearable tech. A more reasonable way to turn this concept into a series could be this type of story with other ignored buildings. For example, the story of a factory in a midwestern town or a post office in California during the Gold Rush could be worth telling. Each story would provide the opportunity to witness history through a more local lens.

Edge Innovations has designed an animatronic dolphin that can pass for the real thing. The U.S. engineering company used its experience creating life-like animals for movies to help relieve the reliance on captive animals to entertain crowds.

If you want one, prepare to spend $3-5 million.

Dolphins are common in theme parks throughout the world. A life-like robotic version would have a massive impact and go a long way with conservationist groups. In the future, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine every animal in a theme park, including zoos, is a robotic version. Would you visit a mechanical Jurassic park island?

What if robotic animals were the initial taste of advanced technology that paves the way for life-like human robots? It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine the people accepting tickets into the theme parks to see robotic dolphins could one day be robots themselves.

If you’ve read The Hysteria of Bodalís, you know my affinity for androids. This could be another treatment of the issue.

The story could revolve around a tinkerer who’s responsible for fixing the robots. He’s a solitary man, working at night to fix the robots for the theme park visitors. Over time, he takes decommissioned robots, both animals and humans, and creates a private utopia in an abandoned warehouse—everything changes when someone starts breaking into the theme park and kills the robotic animals.

The authorities don’t invest too many resources into the case since it involves property damage and not an actual killing.

The stakes rise when human robots are dismembered. The repairman is suspected, and he has to solve the case before he’s fired or found guilty.

The most intense part of the story would be the discovery of his secret world, where both animal and human robots are slaughtered, making his guilt seem all but certain.

The story could end with the tinkerer discovering that the accountant is responsible for the damage; he wanted to recover the insurance payments after losing the theme park’s money. Similar to a Scooby-Doo episode, but darker and written for adults.

A series could revolve around the theme park, tying together the underlying social connections and their interactions with the robotic humans and animals. The theme park could expand to include other parks with dinosaurs or make strides in creating other uses for human robots.

A potential second book could be about their foray into making robotic humans available for humans to kill–an outlet for primal urges. The tinkerer has to solve a different case: why one man orders so many robot humans. His detective work reveals a string of past murders, and he brings the serial killer to justice.

The third book could be animal robot focused, a Jurassic park where someone is killing real human visitors, making it look like the robot dinosaurs are committing the crimes. In the end, it could be a rival company or a spurned former partner.

A study published in the Journal of Anatomy has discovered a statistically significant increase in a forearm artery’s adult occurrence since the late 1800s.

The artery supplies blood to the hand in early fetus development. It is replaced by two arteries later in the womb.

The findings suggest this artery will become commonplace as soon as 80 years from now.

Shada Gray, the main character in Edited Genome Trilogy, has blood that can transport greater levels of oxygen. In the first book, I’ve suggested she’s the next step in human evolution.

There’s another story here, one that includes another passion of mine: olympic weightlifting. What if a scientist discovered people were born with higher-density soft tissues? Specifically, the tendons and ligaments around the knee, hips, and shoulders.

Then, given knowing their own children possessed this trait, they encouraged them to take up olympic weightlifting. In this sport, increased soft tissue quality would be extremely advantageous.

The story could be told from the POV of the athlete, chronicling their rise to the top and subsequent legal fight against people who discover their natural advantage. The final battle could be the international competition, the Olympics or world championships, in a scene reminiscent of Rocky IV.

The questions the scientist parent poses to win the court battle, ensuring their child can go to the highest levels in sport: is it unfair for tall children to be encouraged to take up basketball, or fast children to take up track?

A series based on this idea would have to take a different approach. In a series, the main character is the scientist who discovers emerging physical characteristics and identifies children with these traits, bringing them together in a special school for athletes.

The scientist would be like Professor X, but with athletes.

The stories could then chart the children dealing with typical teenage/young adult issues while training and performing at the highest levels of their respective sports.

Early novels could focus on the local competition, similar to “The Karate Kid.” The stakes get higher as the series progress, like the “Mighty Ducks” movies, but with many different sports represented.

In Spain, archaeologists recovered an entire town’s worth of remains. The bones were left where they were slaughtered around 300BC.

The town’s inhabitants were killed without regard; skeletons of men, women, and children were scattered throughout the area. Some display traits consistent with fighting back against their attackers, while others were charred, burnt inside their homes.

The bones from a severed arm were found with bracelets still attached.

The Roman empire didn’t conquer Spain until ~200BC, suggesting the attack came from a land-hungry neighboring population.

A story idea, similar to Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield: what if a young man survived the attack by managing to escape, and returns as a Roman soldier?

Of course, nobody could live the required timeline. But with a little research, I’m sure a pillaged town could be found in Spain that fits the requirements.

The young man, maybe early teenager, travels until he encounters Roman settlements. There, he conscripts into the army, working his way up the ranks, never forgetting where he came from.

Eventually, he steers the Roman eye towards Spain and plays an instrumental role in acquiring the land for the empire.

The villain in the story, besides the overarching villain of the opposing Spaniards, would have to be a fellow soldier who stands in the young man’s way. Allies would be easy to come by since the army would be filled with young men his age.

Various battles would set the stage for the upcoming fight against the Spaniards, specifically those orphaned him. The strength of the Spanish forces would need to be significant enough that victory isn’t guaranteed.

This could be a series of historical novels set in the same period, since the technology would be the same. One could take place in Asia, also set up by an orphan event; this time, the main character could be an assassinated nobleman’s son. Another could be in the Germanic lands, the hero forced from his home by the army.

I’ve never written historical fiction before, but at this current moment am about to undertake a fictional account of Diego de Landa’s destruction of the Maya culture in the Yucatan. Writing a story in ~200BC would require research into the technology, fighting styles, and way of life of the people alive in that period.

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