Why I Sci-Fi!

Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin Image Source WARNING-- MINOR SPOILERS FOR ROGUE ONE BELOW. If you spent part of your winter break watching 2016's best movie-- I'm talking about Rogue One , of course-- then you were in the company of millions of other avid Star Wars  fans who shared equal enthusiasm. You also watched a zombie actor in one of the main roles. Let me explain. If you're like me, you can't stay away from articles and trivia facts about movies-- even at the risk of encountering spoilers. Rogue One was unique in a lot of ways, but there was one choice that the director made that shocked me. So I kept my eye on my husband to see if he noticed what I already knew. When Grand Moff Tarkin came onto the screen, he squinted through his glasses, but kept watching. The second time he appeared on screen, he leaned over. "Is he CG?" he asked, eyes still on the screen. I nodded. The whole character of Tarkin-- a character with many lines and a l...

Ever since I was a little kid, I've always wanted to explore. Sometimes my adventures were close-- my neighborhood, the woods behind my school, a friend's backyard. When I wanted to travel further, I'd read books. Through the eyes of other characters I saw worlds of magic, of other times, of a distant future. Despite these adventures, I always wanted to go further. When I read  The Martian Chronicles  by Ray Bradbury, the dates seemed so close-- 2008, landing on Mars, 2025, people living on Mars, etc. But Bradbury wrote his stories in a time much further away from the new millennium than I lived. It was when I was in high school that I realized that traveling to space for the general populace was probably something that I wouldn't get to do in my lifetime. This doesn't mean, however, that  someone  wont reach Mars in time for me to see it. A larger version of this map is on the  Journey to Mars Website According to NASA's  Journey to Mars  webs...

Sometimes science fiction authors come up with technology that we WISH we could have. When I read or watch Sci-fi, I always keep track of all of the inventions that I hope to see invented within my lifetime.  Here are my 4 favorites! Replicators! This is a current 3D Printer that is printing a hamburger. Image Source One of the most awesome inventions in Sci-Fi is the replicator. Replicators are used to create food or other simple objects seemingly from thin air. It's a little similar to the 3-D printers that we have now, but much more advanced. In Star Trek  the replicators use some sort of organic material to create food, supplies, etc at the molecular level. But that's not all-- the food that they replicate is always nutritional!  Want ice-cream or cake without any calories? Done! A greasy pizza without the heartburn? Done! Additionally, you don't have to cook it! You're a 5-Star chef at the press of a button! Holodecks/Holographic Rooms ...

Nearly two-thirds of American adults own a smartphone. We’re tied to our technology-- imagine if it had never been invented. Luckily, science fiction authors were there to help inspire new ideas and inventions with their writing. Science Fiction is beneficial to society because it has helped to inspire new inventions, and it allows people to think about our future. Goddard and his rocket in early stages. Image Source  Firstly, science fiction has helped society by inspiring new inventions. According to Smithsonian.com, inventor Robert H. Goddard “became fascinated with spaceflight after reading an 1898 newspaper serialization of H.G. Wells’ classic novel... War of the Worlds. ” He later went on to build the first rocket.  Without this inspiration, Goddard may never have been inspired to create the rocket-- which means much of the space exploration that scientists have done wouldn't exist. Science fiction was also the inspiration behind the cell phone, which is based...

This is Jules Verne ( Image Source ) Science Fiction is a genre that's often taken for granted. Nowadays, we're constantly confronted by images of aliens, rocket ships, and far off planets to be discovered. In fiction, we've colonized Mars-- made first encounters with both gracious and evil aliens. This wasn't always the case, however. There was an age where these kinds of ideas were very much alien-- but Jules Verne changed all of that! Ever heard of the Nautilus? Around the World in 80 Days?  All of these stories sprung from the mind of French author Jules Verne. Born in a port city in France, Verne watched the ships and travelers of his home town in constant wonder. Though he wouldn't get to sail the seas and explore until much later in life, the idea of exploration enticed his imagination through his childhood and young adulthood. This is an original illustration from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. ( Image Source ) Verne's writing didn't take ...

Could a robot help you out at the doctor's office? en.wikipedia.org I'm a huge fan of Robots. As you could probably see from my post about Baymax, I'm all about bringing robots into my life. But there are mixed feelings (see what I did there?!) about how robots interact with humans. Many people find the idea of robots having emotions to be ridiculous-- either because they don't think it's possible or because the idea that humans can create something with feelings is a little scary. Something that scientists do  think is a good idea, however, is programming robots to be more emotionally aware when they interact with humans. Craig Smith, a professor of psychology and human behavior at Vanderbilt University, has a specific goal for the robots that he works with: "We don't want to give a robot emotions; we just want them to be sensitive to our  emotions" (Johnson).  He and his colleague Nilanjan Sarkar are working to make robots more adaptive to ...