Why I Sci-Fi!

Children's movies are some of the most under-appreciated genres in film. There are some amazing This is Wall-E, looking especially  adorable. ( Image Source )  movies out there that were made for children, and adults can absolutely appreciate them, too. One of my favorites is Wall-E, a Pixar film from 2008. Wall-E has some of my favorite themes and ideas from science fiction. It's set in a future where humanity is forced to live aboard giant cruise-ship like space crafts because they have left Earth wasted and in ruins. Wall-E-- a tiny trash compactor robot-- is still on Earth trying to clean up all of the trash left behind when humans abandoned Earth. When Wall-E finds a sapling, another robot shows up to collect the very valuable baby tree-- and it's robot love-at-first sight! The two robots, and the human captain of one of the ships, work together to help the Earth that they left in ruins years before. This is the captain. He seems bad at first, but he is one of the ...

Planets move in and out of view in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" opening credits. Image Source "Space: the final frontier." My door isn't shut all of the way, and I sneak to the door frame. The coast is as clear as the voice summoning me from the TV. With a fuzzy stuffed-animal gripped tightly in hand, I continue. "These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations..." Tip-toeing to the bend in the hallway, I peer around the corner. My parents are both on the couch, the TV glowing from in front of them.  If I stand, I can see the whole screen. "To boldly go where no one has gone before." As the ship soars into view among sparkling stars and gleaming planets, my heart races. The title flashes onto the screen: Star Trek: The Next Generation.  It's  world of space travel and adventure. I long to live in the world in this show-- ea...

It seems like everyone nowadays has a "fandom" that they follow. People are crazy about Dr. Who or the Hunger Games or Steven Universe. If I had to pick my first and most favorite "fandom," it would have to be Star Trek. For those unfamiliar with the series, Star Trek is a popular U.S. television series set in the future. It’s one of the longest running and most successful television franchises-- and for good reason. Below is a list of 5 ideas that Star Trek made clear for a younger me. This is Nichelle Nichols as communications officer Uhura in the original series. She kicked some serious butt. Image Source 1: Women can be leaders, too. Much of the science fiction I read as a young girl was still lacking female characters. Male ship captains, male scientists, male leaders, etc. Star Trek was different. Women were powerful doctors, empathic counselors, effective communication officers, mechanical geniuses, ruthless and self-sacrificing captains. A girl’...

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 ...