Neil Stoker gorges on a new book of Hubble images, and wonders how these extraordinary pictures have changed us
science fiction
The Generation
Take a leap into 2052 and explore the terrifying genetic control under which the human race has befallen with Holly Cave’s first ever sci-fi book..
I,Science short audio fiction: The Turing Test
Rory Galloway reads his short story, “The Turing Test”
Science Fiction Friction!
This show at the Royal Institution was a little strange and a little bit good …
Avatars: moving with the mind
Could we one day hook our brain up to control the movements of an avatar? …
Tractor beam created
Scientists have created a Star Trek style tractor beam (but it’s very small) …
Asimov’s psychohistory in maths
Could Mathematics hold the key to predicting the future? According to Professor Dan Crisan, possibly yes. During his inaugural lecture at Imperial College Professor Crisan used some complex mathematical formulae to show how a branch of mathematics – stochastic analysis – can be used to understand the link between microscopic and macroscopic events. Using a […]
We HAVE the technology
Sure, the SHIELD helicarrier from The Avengers is conceptually feasible – but it might be a tiny bit over budget in terms of power…
Are we living in The Matrix?
If The Matrix was real how would we know? Could an experiment ever provide the answer?
Superhero science
Welcome to Spandex Wizards, a blog where we’ll explore the relationships between science and culture – how do they affect each other, and how have they shaped the world around us? I’ll be taking a look at the unusual places this relationship has surfaced and shaped things in ways that you might not expect. In […]
Invisibility cloaking – hiding a whole new world
The idea of invisibility cloaking – being able to hide things from view – has been a point of interest to humans for thousands of years. Plato wrote in The Republic about The Ring of Gyges which allowed the wearer to become invisible. Within nature there are many different species of creatures that have evolved […]
Creating Spiderman
Yesterday afternoon, I went to the cinema to watch The Amazing Spider-Man. When the words “DNA” and “recombination” popped up during the film, I got excited and started thinking. I later asked myself: In reality, how close are we to creating artificial hybrid species? Let’s briefly revisit the idea of Spider-Man, a.k.a. Peter Parker. Parker […]
The Great I, Science Sci Fi TV Survey
Ben Kolb and Adrian Giordani – April 2010 A couple of months ago the I, Science team were ‘geeking’ out in the pub, arguing over the respective merits of Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine and whether the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica s the best science fiction series ever? After much debate and before the […]