One of the reason I like writing speculative fiction is it gives me another reason to learn new things.  I’m a naturally inquisitive person to start with—that’s probably why I got into science as my day job—and I like to browse sites like Wikipedia for amusement.  Doing research for stories I’m writing helps to focus what might otherwise be aimless reading. 

Here’s a few of the interesting things I’ve learned over the past few months while doing research for stories I’m writing:

• Closed timelike curves don’t necessarily violate causality.  (Also see the Novikov self-consistency principle).

• You can get an atmospheric diving suits that will keep a diver at one atmosphere of pressure, thus eliminating the potential of decompression sickness, e.g., the bends.

• A keffiyeh is a traditional arabic head scarf to protect the head from the sun.  I’d always seen the headwear on people like Yasser Arafat, but I’d never know what it was actually called.

• Molecular gastronomy is a type of cuisine.  To make it requires some equipment more common to scientific laboratories than kitchens: centrifuges, distillers, syringes, and liquid nitrogen.

• There are five elements in the Japanese philosophy called Godai: air, earth, fire, water, and void.  These are found symbolically in zen gardens and Buddhist architecture.

• The Battle of Huế was one of the longest and deadliest battles of the Vietnam War.

Has anyone else learned anything interesting recently?