Talking with the feral druids, as those who play bears, cats or both, are known, a few themes clearly emerge. When I asked why they chose their class , the first thing every druid in my small sample said was, “I get to turn into a cat!” or “I get to turn into a bear!” It’s clear that they play a druid because of the shape-shifting and non-human appearance, rather than in spite of it. Given the frequent discussions surrounding “avatars that look like me”, it may be surprising that these women would prefer non-human avatars. The forces, personal and societal, at work here are likely varied, but I’m going to bring up two I think are useful to note: the failure of female avatars to inspire these women, and the appeal of these archetypes.

If you can't present the problem on eight-and-a-half-by-eleven you can leave me OUT of it!

Hello. It's me, Science. Hope you're well. You seem a bit angry of late, snapping at people for no real reason. I've heard we all get a bit more right wing as we get older, but seriously, calm down. Try some meditation or yoga or Chamomile tea. And this is me (the personification of the abstract concept of Science, just to clarify) saying that, so you know I must be worried.

Assuming you had an interstellar spaceship, how would you navigate around the galaxy? For starters, you'd probably need a map. But there's billions of stars out there, how could you orientate a map to find the quickest route from Earth to the exoplanet called Gliese 777 b (in the constellation of Cygnus) for example?

You could just plot a route directly to your planned destination, but that would mean traversing the badlands between the Milky Way's spiral arms that contain few stars (and, presumably, few interstellar gas stations) than if you followed the curving arms.

In the style of London's famous Tube Map, Samuel Arbesman, research fellow at Harvard Medical School, has re-imagined the Milky Way, simplifying our cosmic home. Although the Milky Way Transit Authority (MWTA) was created for fun and pure curiosity, it does provide an an accurate insight to the scale and locations of various nebulae, clusters and the solar system's location (Sol) in our galaxy.