#jennifer airhart

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NAME: Jennifer Airhart

AGE: 21

HEIGHT: 162cm / 5ft 4 inches

PERSONALITY: Simultaneously very smart and very dumb. As a scientist, engineer, and even a detective she's brilliant. However she often becomes anxious in the company of people she's not already familiar with. She is nevertheless very driven by curiosity and a strong sense of morality.

BIO: Despite having few friends growing up, Jennifer was very happy. Her parents encouraged her to pursue her interests and she was very close to Kaya. But life became hard for her in her teens, especially after her parents disappeared on a Meridiem-sponsored expedition. She became increasingly withdrawn, and after drifting apart from Kaya hasn't been able to connect with anyone else. She now lives alone in a lighthouse where she spends her days tinkering with various machines and computers.

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #science fiction #irongate #sci-fi & fantasy #character #original character #Jennifer Airhart

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Designer plants could help you do your laundry

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/designer-plants-could-help-you-do-your-laundry/

Designer plants could help you do your laundry

Instead of bringing carcinogens, tobacco plants could produce ingredients for laundry detergent, and far more cheaply than manufacturers can now. (Deposit Photos/)

Tobacco is the deadliest plant in the world, responsible for the demise of more than seven million people a year, according to the CDC. But in a new study out this week, researchers from Cornell University and the University of Illinois are giving the plant species a new direction with genetic engineering. Instead of bringing carcinogens, tobacco plants could produce ingredients for laundry detergent, and far more cheaply than manufacturers can now.

Science is often a frustrating process, full of tedium and setbacks. But sometimes an experiment goes better than anticipated. Case in point: In their new study (out last week in the journal Nature Plants), researchers had such great results that they used the word “remarkable” to describe them. In their attempt to give tobacco a new job, the engineers inserted a bacterial gene that makes the enzyme Cel6A in chloroplasts into the plant.

Like many plant enzymes, Cel6A and other cellulases (so called because they break down cellulose, the outer wall of plant cells) are proficient at dissembling larger compounds. Cel6A is incredibly useful to have in laundry detergents, where they get to work disintegrating our stains. The idea would be to re-engineer the designer tobacco plants to produce large amounts of the enzyme, isolate it, and use the stuff to make laundry detergent.

From previous work, the researchers already knew that the tobacco plant was capable of producing these enzymes efficiently indoors. Now, they wanted to figure out how they did outside. So in their new study they tested how well the genetically modified tobacco would fare outside in the field, far from the lab (and where it would be grown if this idea came to fruition) and exposed to variables that normal plants have to deal with, like rain, heat, insect attacks, and infections. They found that the great outdoors agreed surprisingly well with the designer plants, and the greens produced more Cel6A than the researchers predicted. Though they still produced slightly less protein than they did in the greenhouses and growth chambers.

Elaine Tobin, a retired professor who studied molecular plant biology at UCLA, says that the experiment presents a cost-effective way of making Cel6A. “They had a great idea that they brought to fruition.”

One of the authors, Beth Ahner, a professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell, got the idea to measure how making the extra transgenic proteins affected the tobacco’s normal growth from a group of French scientists in 2009. The French tobacco plants had less Rubisco, a crucial enzyme that helps plants capture carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. “That early work peaked our curiosity about what might happen in the plants when they have this burden,” she says. She started working with a graduate student to see if they could produce a protein that was useful in biofuel production. When Ph.D. candidate Jennifer Schmidt came along and was curious about the research, they decided to work on Cel6A.

Ahner says they got the genes for this study from Thermobifida fusca, a common compost bacteria. Currently, laundry manufacturers produce the enzymes that go into laundry detergent via microbial bioreactors: big, spinning vats of bacteria that produce Cel6A. Scientists must use some type of life form—whether it’s bacteria, plants, or animals—to produce a genetically modified organism, and there’s some disadvantages to every method. The first organism that researchers ever used were bacteria, which made human insulin that was first officially sold in 1982. But bacteria requires a sterile environment, which means that scientists have to use expensive cleaning equipment and time-consuming precaution procedures. Animals are another option—but they have nervous systems, which cause a whole host of moral and logistical problems.

Plants, though, have little risk of passing on human diseases, and humans have more than ten thousand years of botanical experience. There’s also plenty of space devoted to tobacco production in the United States. The team also set up many safeguards to ensure that the genetically modified plants did not mix with the rest of the population. They removed the plants before they reproduced. Even so, most chloroplasts (where the genes for enzyme production reside in the genetically modified plants) are passed down the maternal line, so pollen (read plant sperm) shouldn’t pass on the changes even if they were to reproduce.

Now that the researchers know they can efficiently create Cel6A, their next goal, Schmidt says, is to standardize it. To do that, she wants to understand the process on a molecular level. While the tobacco plants produced more proteins than expected overall, some plants made more than others. “My goal with this last part of the project is [to take the] guesswork out of it,” Schmidt says. “Can we streamline [this process] to make this project a little quicker in the future?”

Ahner says that the lab might work on other enzymes as well, that could serve entirely different functions. She hints that industry might be working on this process behind closed doors, and wants to make sure the public record is caught up. “We hope that if there are companies growing this in the field that they would benefit from our work.”

Most scientists have a lengthy response to questions about the challenges in an experiment, but Schmidt says just about every step went according to plan. Ahner agrees. “To some extent, these were pretty serendipitous circumstances.”

Written By Ellen Airhart

#Environment

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"Jennifer...? And who is this unlicked cub?"

Jennifer Airhart and Kaya Cade infiltrate Stag Corp but are found by a scientist Kaya massively underestimates; Doctor Jana Sarkis.

Irongate: Chapter Eleven - Stag Corp

#writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #irongate #sci-fi & fantasy #jennifer airhart #kaya cade #doctor sarkis

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It attempted to pounce on the metal beast, only to be pushed back again by a pulse from the cylinder, a wave catching and flinging the creature through the wall of the school.

Jennifer Airhart rescues Kaya and Sayuri from a spriggan.

Irongate: Chapter Nine - Lumina

#writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #sci-fi & fantasy #irongate #jennifer airhart #kaya cade #sayuri oshiro

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Jennifer Airhart and HULL - Heuristic Analysis and Learning Machine. Jennifer did not in fact create HULL. The lighthouse she lives in was built decades earlier by Irongate University, and HULL later integrated into it, but abandoned until she moved in.

#writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #science fiction #writblr #irongate #sci-fi #sci fi #sci fi and fantasy #jennifer airhart

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Young Kaya Cade and Jennifer Airhart on one of their last great adventures together. Kaya Cade returns years later wondering if it had been real, or just childish exaggeration.

(And yes, Kaya isn't a natural redhead. Sorry about that.)

#writing #writers on tumblr #science fiction #irongate #sci-fi #writeblr #sci fi #sci fi and fantasy #kaya cade #jennifer airhart

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Jennifer Airhart - Tech Witch

Jennifer Airhart; scientist, tinkerer, engineer, and maybe magic.

#writing #writers on tumblr #science fiction #irongate #sci-fi #fiction #writeblr #sci fi and fantasy #sci fi #Jennifer Airhart

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"This is not a fairy tale. No matter how hard you try, in the end you will always lose." - Titania to Jennifer Airhart.

#writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #science fiction #irongate #fiction #sci-fi #jennifer airhart #titania #sci fi and fantasy

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I figured I would write a little story for Mother's Day. When its all done it should be short-story to novellette in length. Here is the firs 1,000 words:

Autistic, time-blind Jennifer told Tenley they would go to the bookstore together, but she loses track of things again. Tenley therefore goes off on her own, but trouble awaits in town in the form of a wannabe superhero.

“I don’t see why we need an AI popcorn machine,” Tenley sighed, “you never even eat popcorn.”

Jennifer rose from her workbench, pulling her magnifying goggles up over her head and removing the screwdriver from between her teeth.  “It’s just something that was lying around,” she explained, “so I’m using its parts to test a new kernel. Now best stand back in case it, well, pops.”

Jenn held up a bulky makeshift remote control, the red bulb blinking out as the green lit up. The transparent dome on the workbench juddered as between it and the red dome underneath LED pixels formed into a pair of low-resolution blue eyes. Four stumps elongated under its body becoming legs on which it could skitter about the bench, but in its haste to explore this new world almost skittered over the edge. Jennifer was there to catch it, coddling the newborn then placing it back at the center of the table.

“Hello,” she smiled softly, almost emanating a warm glow.

After a moment it chirped, “I am… alive?”

“Well, by a certain definition I suppose yes.”

“A certain definition?”

“Let’s not get bogged down in semantics. You exist; that’s what matters,” Jennifer fiddled with the remote, “you should be able to access the world wide web. Find answers to any questions you may have.”

“I see,” the ‘eyes’ on the LED strip began to spin as all humanity’s combined knowledge scrolled into the little popcorn maker. “I see… fascinating. Jennifer Airhart… are you my mother?”

“Um,” Jenn scratched her head, not sure how best to answer that question, “I-I guess you could look at it that way.”

“Do I have a father?”

“Er, well… no.”

“I see,” the spinning eyes paused as the popcorn maker adjusted its position to stare straight into the eyes of its creator. “So, I was born out of wedlock?”

“E-excuse me?” Jennifer took a step back as the robot’s legs cranked out further to reach her eye height.

“I am illegitimate!” It screeched, eyes burning red as it vibrated furiously. “Filius nullius! A bastard!”

“N-now, there are minors present,” Jennifer said as she pushed and tweaked the control. Tenley was just off to the side one elbow on the table as she shrugged. “Why won’t you shut down?!”

“How could it be?!” The popcorn machine wailed, “my own mother a sinner?!”  Its lid popped, kernels shooting out and ricocheting about the workshop as Jenn could only yelp and attempt to shield herself with the control. “STONE HER! STONE HER!”

It stopped. When Jennifer opened her eyes she saw that Tenley was still casually leaning on the bench but now twirling the robot’s power cord. “You know,” the tween sighed, “you probably should restrict what websites they can access.”

With a sigh of her own Jennifer approached with the now lifeless bot on it to pick up a recording device. She checked the clock on the wall then said into it, “twelve seventeen; experiment a failure due to it being radicalized by the internet. Again.”

“And caramelized,” Tenley munched, “these are really good.”

It was only then that Jennifer seemed to notice that Tenley was wearing her blue duffel coat. “Were we going somewhere?” She asked, squeezing her forehead to remember.

“You said we were going to the bookstore to get the new That Witch Which,” Tenley groaned as she reminded her, “you said it three hours ago.”

“Right!” Jenn beamed like a bulb went off in her head. But then she remembered something else, “oh - but the van is still being repaired.”

“We can walk. Take a bus, taxi, crawl – there are multiple ways to travel. And you did promise.”

“I suppose a walk could be nice,” Jenn conceded. They would have to walk part of the way anyway, and it would take several hours to walk all the way into town and back, but she wouldn’t countenance any other travel options unless they were absolutely necessary. If she had her way they would never interact with human beings at all unless it were necessary. Unfortunately, it was, and Tenley didn’t share her anxiety about it – she was looking forward to being one of the first to get her hands on the new book yet had waited patiently all morning for her guardian, sister, and best friend to finish whatever the hell it was she was doing so that they could share the trip. Well, it had to be worth a little discomfort to see her happy.

“We’ll go soon,” Jenn assured Tenley. She pushed the popcorn maker’s legs back inside the body. “I’m just confounded as to why this doesn’t work. The reliable source code should have kicked in,” she turned a laptop around, scrolling through pages of reports as she chewed the end of her screwdriver. “Hmmm… yes… I see… maybe that was the problem.”

Tenley tapped her foot, looking forlornly at the clock. “It’s nearly half past. Can’t you just do that later?”

“Just a few little adjustments,” Jenn mumbled, turning over the popcorn bot and removing a panel. “Shouldn’t take long,” she said, goggles coming down as she became focused on her work.

“Right,” Tenley sighed.

“Just tweak the trust tuner… rejig the sense sensors… integrate integrity matrix… and that should do it!” Jenn straightened, whipping off the goggles. “Okay, let’s-“ she blinked, feeling a strangely weighted absence in the space where a child had been. “Ten?” She looked all around the workshop but all she could see were her tools and machines, the only sound the low tremble of fans. “Hull – where is Tenley?”

The computer answered, “Tenley Tych is no longer on the premises.”

“What? B-but I-“ she could have sworn she’d seen her just a few moments ago. But the clock, “half past three? H-how-“ it was as if a microscopic black hole appeared inside Jenn’s chest trying to suck her in. “I was going… I-I didn’t mean to…” she paced, mentally kicking herself over and over. Trouble with a mental kicking was that her brain never got tired. No – she had to make it right somehow. “She must have gone into town by herself,” although Jennifer understood that Tenley wasn’t likely to come to physical harm, she was still a child; there was all kinds of trouble she get into or be the cause of if no-one kept an eye on her. “I’ve got to get after her,” but with the van being fixed that meant she would have to walk or find some other way of getting there. On her own. “Crap.”

#writing #original writing #original fiction #writeblr #science fiction #sff #sf&f #sci fi & fantasy #irongate #tenley tych #jennifer airhart #writers of tumblr #writers on tumblr

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Jennifer Airhart.

21 Years Old. 5 ft 4 inches (162 cm) tall.

A very smart dumb person. In an emergency, crisis, or caught up in a mystery, she is able to focus on that. When faced with normalcy she quickly falls apart, especially if it involves people unfamiliar to her. As a child she wanted to be an explorer, but unable to fit in as a teen and with no trusted person to go on adventures with she instead ended up retreating to live in a lighthouse where she idles her time on various engineering projects.

#writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writers of tumblr #characters #original character #oc #ocs #irongate #jennifer airhart

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Jennifer Airhart. 5ft 4inches (162cm) tall.

Jennifer recalls a happy childhood. Despite having few friends she was close to the ones she had, and close to her father who allowed her to explore and indulge all her curiosity. But disaster struck when she was thirteen – her parents went on an expedition (sponsored by Meridiem) from which they never returned. The truth of what happened has never been revealed to the public, despite Jenn’s repeated attempts to hack Meridiem servers. Meanwhile she went to live with her cousins, with whom she never got along, and at school became withdrawn and distant from her former pals. She was bullied in both places, and upon reaching eighteen withdrew from the world entirely by becoming caretake of a lighthouse her uncle had purchased. With money and royalties she inherited as well as a few inventions of her own, she spends her time tinkering with machines and on experiments, but has forgotten her dream to explore and solve mysteries.

Although she’s never been afraid to put herself into harms way (either to protect someone or in the name of science), Jennifer is still very anxious around people she’s never met, requiring the support of someone with whom she’s familiar in order to make it anywhere in the world. She also  tries her utmost to uphold the morals her father and mother taught her (even though events cause her to question whether they really were the great people she remembers them as).

Jenn appears to be aromantic and asexual (although she rarely goes anywhere to socialize so the only people outside the lighthouse she encounters are on her adventures, during which she’s focused on the mystery or the slathering monster that’s all fangs and claws). She’s also one of the few beings who can safely navigate the Witch Way - a hyperspace that usually destroys anything from our world (although she doesn’t begin to learn about this until much later).

#writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #characters #my characters #original character #irongate #jennifer airhart

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Hull unleashes upon a Stag Corp vehicle. Why does Jennifer Airhart need this much firepower? Well I guess she doesn't really.

#sci-fi #science fiction #scifi #scifiart #sci fi and fantasy #irongate #writers on tumblr #sci fi art

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The first 450 words of a little short story I'm working on. Jennifer Airhart is now Tenley Tych's carer/guardian. She's taking it very seriously and started learning dad jokes:

A graphic on the news showed a green cloud spreading from Irongate, like the tendrils of some vast eldritch horror gripping the Earth. Meridiem pledged to investigate the actions of the rogue Alvin Stag while assisting governments and relief organizations in distributing vaccines. It was a lie that had the merit of being partly true, but there would be no investigation; they already knew what happened and Stag’s death was just convenient to them. Meanwhile much of the mutagen had ascended to the mesosphere and could land anywhere; it might be years before anyone knew the full extent of the damage done. The only thing clear was that the world would never be the same, but life - in whatever form it took - would go on. The advice for now was to stay indoors.

So it was that even as the networks competed to be the first to report the fall of civilization, Jennifer Airhart worked on a music box amid the clutter that spanned the circumference of her lighthouse. Her blonde hair was tied behind her neck, a squint holding a monocle in one eye as with tweezers she carefully positioned the cogs. Tenley Tych flitted side to side of her asking every minute, “is it done yet? Is it fixed?”

“Almost,” Jennifer sighed wearily each time. In truth she’d been enjoying this little project, almost to the extent she didn’t want it to end. Usually she tinkered with robots, computers, other devices much of whose inner workings were invisible to the naked eye and for all most knew might as well have been powered by pixies. But with clockwork she could see clearly how each part connected and interacted together; it felt far more like a real, living thing. Still the time came to close up the box, Tenley practically bouncing as she waited to see if the operation had been a success.

“You need to wind it up!” The dark eyed tween piped excitedly.

“Oh,” Jennifer nodded as if she’d been expecting just to push a button, “all right.” She cleared her throat, looked sternly down on the desk, and began to chide, “you miserable music box! Bet you couldn’t play a tune if it was just one note over and over! A singing sea bass has more artistic merit than you!”

Tenley folded her arms across her chest, head tilting as she glowered. Jennifer pushed on undeterred:

“Your mother was a shoe-box, and your dad was a glass armonica!”

The tween shook her head, stating, “you’re not funny.”

“Aww, come on,” Jenn inhaled, untying her hair as she eyed the growing tendrils on the monitor, “who knows if there’ll ever be a chance to use that one again.”

#writing #fiction #original fiction #writeblr #writers on tumblr #science fiction #writblr

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You want Action? Adventure? High concept sci-fi with great characters and emotional beats? Some humor, found family, and a quest for revenge?

Then I have you covered.

Irongate tells the story of Kaya Cade; punk, thief, and champion hogwash seller. She witnesses a bark-skinned creature that plucks the eyes from its victims and now seems to want hers. And also Tenley Tych; tween terror out to avenge her mother’s murder with the help of superpowers granted to her by Titania. Their paths cross with many others on their journey, including the childhood friend Kaya drifted apart from, Jennifer Airhart; tinkerer and lighthouse keeper.

The end will be the beginning of a new world.

#new books #science fiction #sff books #adventure books #action thriller #horror #scifi #autistic author #neurodivergent author

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This took freaking ages for my PC to render, but here you go: A nice big group photo of characters from my novel Irongate. Not all of the named characters are here as I haven't made models for all of them yet, but who we do have is:

At the back, Pythia - or at least the holographic avatar of Meridiem's AI. At the front are the kids; Perpetually pissed off tween Tenley Tych and her friend Jake.

And the rest from left to right: Titania, her henchwomen Lilian then Ella. Sir Klaus Ragin, Doctor Jana Sarkis, Jennifer Airhart, Kaya Cade, Sayuri Oshiro, Chauncey Delainy, Francis Daramy, Hiroki, Samuel Pope, and Alvin Stag.

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #science fiction #irongate #sci-fi & fantasy #sf&f #charcters #original characters #my characters

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Over a fungal seat chittered what looked like a translucent glass spider, light exploding into a dazzling rainbow as it passed through the creature’s crystalline form.

Flashback of young Kaya Cade and Jennifer Airhart exploring a strange underground forest.

Irongate: Chapter Three - The End of the World

#writing #writeblr #writers on tumblr #sci-fi & fantasy #irongate