Science Friction

Bestselling author Michael Shermer delves into the unknown, from heretical ideas about the boundaries of the universe to Star Trek's lessons about chance and time A scientist pretends to be a psychic for a day-and fools everyone. An athlete discovers that good-luck rituals and getting into "the zone" may, or may not, improve his performance. A historian decides to analyze the data to see who was truly responsible for the Bounty mutiny. A son explores the possiblities of alternative and experimental medicine for his cancer-ravaged mother. And a skeptic realizes that it is time to turn the skeptical lens onto science itself. In each of the fourteen essays in Science Friction, psychologist and science historian Michael Shermer explores the very personal barriers and biases that plague and propel science, especially when scientists push against the unknown. What do we know and what do we not know? How does science respond to controversy, attack, and uncertainty? When does theory become accepted fact? As always, Shermer delivers a thought-provoking, fascinating, and entertaining view of life in the scientific age.

When Cooper drags Kevin, Ben, and Gwen to the science fiction convention, no one is very excited. But all of that changes when one of the convention's props starts spewing out mini-aliens! Ben, Gwen, Cooper, and Kevin must save the conventioneers and stop the tiny pests. But will they be able to do so before they are overwhelmed by the mini-invaders? Sometimes real life really is stranger than fiction!

Science Fiction, Science Fact! Ages 8–12 is a book for story-loving primary teachers who want to find a creative way to teach science. Contextualising science in a story that pupils know and love, the book contains a wide range of activities and investigations to help Key Stage 2 pupils engage in science learning, while also extending aspects of the English national curriculum. The book offers valuable support to busy teachers and, by ensuring science lessons are enjoyable and accessible for pupils, helps children get involved in investigations in a way that is memorable for them. Using coloured illustrations and diagrams throughout, the book contains: the relevant scientific context alongside a link to one of nine exciting children’s stories clever and unique suggestions to ‘storify the science’ instructions for teachers to give to their pupils tips on how to deliver the lesson in an immersive way guidance on assessing pupils’ level of understanding Science Fiction, Science Fact! Ages 8–12 is packed full of ideas for weaving science into cross-curricular lessons, and is an invigorating and essential resource for Key Stage 2 teachers and science co-ordinators seeking to inject some creativity into their science lessons.

Science Fiction Audiences examines the astounding popularity of two television "institutions" - the series Doctor Who and ^Star Trek. Both of these programmes have survived cancellation and acquired an following that continues to grow. The book is based on over ten years of research including interviews with fans and followers of the series. In that period, though the fans may have changed, and ways of studying them as "audiences" may have also changed, the programmes have endured intact, with Star Trek for example now in its fourth television incarnation. John Tulloch and Henry Jenkins dive into the rich fan culture surrounding the two series, exploring issues such as queer identity, fan meanings, teenage love of science fiction, and genre expectations. They encompass the perspectives of a vast population of fans and followers throughout Britain, Australia and the US, who will continue the debates contained in the book, along with those who will examine the historically changing range of audience theory it presents. and continue to attract a huge community of fans and followers. Doctor Who has appeared in nine different guises and Star Trek is now approaching its fourth television incarnation.Science Fiction Audiences examines the continuing popularity of two television 'institutions' of our time through their fans and followers. Through dialogue with fans and followers of Star Trek and Dr Who in the US, Britain and Australia, John Tulloch and Henry Jenkins ask what it is about the two series that elicits such strong and active responses from their audiences. Is it their particular intervention into the SF genre? Their expression of peculiarly 'American' and 'British' national cultures. Their ideologies and visions of the future, or their conceptions of science and technology? Science Fiction Audiences responds to a rich fan culture which encompasses debates about fan aesthetics, teenage attitudes to science fiction, queers and Star Trek, and ideology and pleasure in Doctor Who. It is a book written both for fans of the two series, who will be able to continue their debates in its pages, and for students of media and cultural studies, offering a historical overview of audience theory in a fascinating synthesis of text, context and audience study.

Dr. Evelyn Grossherin has discovered how to cheat death, but death is trying to cheat back. Will her lifetime of work be destroyed by her unwitting participation in a grisly crime? Will she find the truth before she becomes the next victim of a homicidal maniac? Is her only enemy her own paranoia? And what about Spencer Knoll, the slacker who has fashioned his repulsiveness into an oddly seductive charm? Is he an innocent dupe or a Machiavellian charlatan? The answers lie in the increasingly disturbed thoughts of a brain floating in a vat of amniotic fluid-thoughts only Evelyn and her bank of supercomputers can read. The brain, however, has its own agenda, one that involves melding science and fiction until the two are almost, but not quite, indistinguishable. All Evelyn can be sure of is that the truth isn't what it used to be. An off-beat love story peppered with hilarious one-liners from a character you hate to love and an ending that will knock your socks off, then wash and fold them, combine to make Science Fiction a must-read, instant classic.

Machine generated contents note: -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1: Introduction: Animation, Science Fiction, and the Modernist Spirit -- Chapter 2: Flights of Fantasy -- Chapter 3: Robots and Artificial Beings -- Chapter 4: Alien Visions -- Chapter 5: Inventions, Modern Marvels, and Mad Scientists -- Postscript: New SF Images for a Postwar World -- A Select Filmography of Science Fiction Animation -- A Science Fiction Animation Bibliography

A Companion to Science Fiction assembles essays by aninternational range of scholars which discuss the contexts, themesand methods used by science fiction writers. This Companion conveys the scale and variety of sciencefiction. Shows how science fiction has been used as a means of debatingcultural issues. Essays by an international range of scholars discuss thecontexts, themes and methods used by science fiction writers. Addresses general topics, such as the history and origins ofthe genre, its engagement with science and gender, and nationalvariations of science fiction around the English-speakingworld. Maps out connections between science fiction, television, thecinema, virtual reality technology, and other aspects of theculture. Includes a section focusing on major figures, such as H.G.Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ursula Le Guin. Offers close readings of particular novels, from MaryShelley’s Frankenstein to Margaret Atwood’sThe Handmaid’s Tale.

Explores the force of friction through ten simple experiments using everyday objects.