#fictionscience — Public Fediverse posts

When we scheduled our #FictionScience podcast with evolutionary biologist Scott Solomon to talk about his book, "Becoming Martian," we didn't know that #ElonMusk would be doing his strategic pivot from a city on #Mars to a city on the #moon. But that made the podcast even more timely. Hope you enjoy listening to our conversation! https://cosmiclog.com/2026/02/17/occupy-mars-or-the-moon-its-time-for-a-reality-check/ #space

Aerospace consultant Roger Myers explains the geopolitical rationale behind the drive by #NASA and the Department of #Energy to put a #nuclear reactor on the #moon by the 2030s. Check out the #FictionScience podcast: https://cosmiclog.com/2026/01/30/why-nasa-is-going-nuclear-for-a-power-play-on-the-moon/ #Space

The last novel in the Grand Tour series by sci-fi master #BenBova is #Pluto, which reflects the latest discoveries from the #NASA #NewHorizons mission. As the author of "The Case for Pluto," I was tickled to talk with space scientist Les Johnson, who wrote the novel based on the notes that Bova left behind when he died. Give a listen to the #FictionScience podcast to get the full details. https://cosmiclog.com/2025/10/31/a-fictional-grand-tour-portrays-pluto-as-it-really-is/

A fictional Grand Tour portrays Pluto as it really is
NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto has forced astronomers to rewrite their textbooks — but that's not all: New Horizons also forced Les Johnson to rewrite a novel.

The space scientist was tasked with taking notes that the famed science-f
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/10/31/a-fictional-grand-tour-portrays-pluto-as-it-really-is/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #Charon #DwarfPlanets #FictionScience #NewHorizons #Pluto #ScienceFiction #Space

Native American legends get woven into an alien tale
Centuries before the Roswell UFO Incident, Native Americans had their own stories to tell about alien visitations — for example, about the "Sky People" who traveled from the Pleiades star cluster to Earth and have a special bond with the Cherokee Nation.

In a newly published novel titled "
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/10/13/native-american-alien/
#FictionScienceClub #Aliens #Books #FictionScience #NativeAmericans #ScienceFiction #UFOs

In a new book titled "Rocket Dreams," Christian Davenport provides an inside look at two parallel space races - between #JeffBezos and #ElonMusk, and between America and China. I'll be chatting with Chris at Seattle's Museum of Flight on Oct. 1. Listen to the podcast, read the book, and come join us! https://cosmiclog.com/2025/09/26/billionaires-america-space-race-china/ #Space #FictionScience #NASA

The space race is tightening up for Blue Origin and SpaceX, and for America and China - Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have both celebrated space victories, but they’ve also f... - https://www.geekwire.com/2025/space-race-blue-origin-spacex-america-china/ #fictionscience #blueorigin #jeffbezos #elonmusk #artemis #spacex #space #books #moon #nasa

How billionaires boost America in space race with China
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space venture has only just begun to launch a heavy-lift rocket that was a decade in the making — its orbital-class New Glenn launch vehicle, which had its first flight in January. But it's already planning somethin
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/09/26/billionaires-america-space-race-china/
#FictionScienceClub #Artemis #BlueOrigin #Books #China #DonaldTrump #ElonMusk #FictionScience #JeffBezos #Moon #NASA #SpaceX

In the latest episode of the #FictionScience podcast, Tim Chawaga talks about the parallels between the plot of his first novel, #Salvagia, and the real-world thrills and chills that are likely to sweep over America's coastal areas due to future sea level rise. Tim will be visiting Seattle for this week's #Worldcon sci-fi convention. https://cosmiclog.com/2025/08/11/climate-fiction-thriller-explores-floridas-flooded-future/ #Climate #Science

Climate-fiction thriller explores Florida’s flooded future
How will technology — and society — adapt to the dramatic effects that climate change is expected to bring? Will necessity become the mother of invention in a world of rising seas? Will it be business as usual? Or will it
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/08/11/climate-fiction-thriller-explores-floridas-flooded-future/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #ClimateChange #CLUBClub #Environment #FictionScience #Florida #ScienceFiction #TimChawaga

Tech pioneer Nathan Myhrvold and paleontologist Thomas Holtz review how #dinosaur #science has evolved since the first #JurassicPark movie came out in 1993 - and also review the movie franchise's new film, "Jurassic World: Rebirth." Don't miss the #FictionScience podcast! https://cosmiclog.com/2025/07/04/fiction-fact-jurassic-world-dinosaur/ #JurassicWorld

Fiction outweighs fact in ‘Jurassic World’ dinosaur tale
Nathan Myhrvold, a Seattle tech titan who also studies titanosaurs and other denizens of the dinosaur era, realizes that "Jurassic World: Rebirth" is science fiction, not a documentary — nevertheless, he has a few bones to
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/07/04/fiction-fact-jurassic-world-dinosaur/
#FictionScienceClub #Dinosaurs #FictionScience #JurassicWorld #Movies #NathanMyhrvold #Paleontology #Science #ScienceFiction #ThomasHoltz

After more than 20 years of planning and construction, the #RubinObservatory in Chile is ready to revolutionize astronomy - and you can be in on the first day of the revolution. Check out the #FictionScience podcast: https://cosmiclog.com/2025/06/20/rubin-observatory-first-look/ #Space #Astronomy

In a new book titled "The AI Con," a pair of scholars provide a strong dose of skepticism about what's often sold as the brave new world of artificial intelligence. They're talking about the book at Seattle-area events this week - and in the latest episode of the #FictionScience podcast. https://cosmiclog.com/2025/05/19/how-to-hold-the-line-against-ai-hype/ #AI #Tech H/T @emilymbender @alex

How to hold the line against AI hype
Don't call ChatGPT a chatbot. Call it a conversation simulator. Don't think of DALL-E as a creator of artistic imagery. Instead, think of it as a synthetic media extruding machine. In fact, avoid thinking that what generative AI does is actually artificial intelligence.

That
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/05/19/how-to-hold-the-line-against-ai-hype/
#FictionScienceClub #ArtificialIntelligence #Books #CLUBClub #ComputerScience #FictionScience #Technology

New #FictionScience podcast: In a sci-fi novel that's way too close to reality, Ray Nayler delves into how authoritarian regimes use #AI and other technologies to stay in power - and how high-tech tyranny can be resisted. https://cosmiclog.com/2025/04/01/dictators-exploit-new-technologies-in-fact-and-fiction/ #Science #Tech

#Mickey17, the new sci-fi movie from Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho, starts with the silly premise that you can 3D print copies of "expendable" space travelers. But it's a teachable moment for researchers looking into ways to modify the human body for living more comfortably on other worlds. We delve into that topic on the #FictionScience podcast. https://cosmiclog.com/2025/03/08/how-humans-can-reinvent-themselves-for-life-in-space/ #Space #Entertainment #Movies #Science #Genetics #3dprinting

How science weighs the pluses and minuses of space sex
You might think sex in space would be an out-of-this-world experience — but based on the scientific evidence so far, low-gravity intimacy isn’t likely to be as much of a high as it sounds. In fact, dwelling too deeply on the challenges of off-Earth sex and repr
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/02/14/how-science-weighs-the-pluses-and-minuses-of-space-sex/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #CLUBClub #FictionScience #Mars #MuseumOfFlight #Sex #Space

In a book titled "Daydreaming in the Solar System," scientists point out paths to interplanetary adventures that are out of this world. It was fun to chat with one of the authors, John E. Moores, for the #FictionScience podcast. https://cosmiclog.com/2025/01/29/science-points-out-paths-to-interplanetary-adventures/ #Books #ScienceFiction #Space

Science points out paths to interplanetary adventures
What would you do for fun on another planet? Go ballooning in Venus' atmosphere? Explore the caves of Hyperion? Hike all the way around Mercury? Ride a toboggan down the slopes of Pluto's ice mountains? Or just watch the clouds roll by on Mars?

All those adv
https://cosmiclog.com/2025/01/29/science-points-out-paths-to-interplanetary-adventures/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #CLUBClub #FictionScience #ScienceFiction #SolarSystem #Space

In a newly published book, a law professor argues that #AI agents will eventually be given some form of personhood - and some researchers agree. Give a listen to the #FictionScience podcast. https://cosmiclog.com/2024/11/05/why-itll-get-harder-to-draw-the-line-between-ai-and-us/ #Science #Tech #Consciousness #TheLine

Why it’ll get harder to draw the line between AI and us
Some say artificial intelligence will be humanity's greatest helper. Others warn that AI will become humanity's most dangerous rival. But maybe there's a third alternative --- with AI agents achieving the status of
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/11/05/why-itll-get-harder-to-draw-the-line-between-ai-and-us/
#FictionScienceClub #ArtificialIntelligence #Books #ChristofKoch #CLUBClub #Consciousness #FictionScience #OrenEtzioni #Technology

Artificial intelligence is fueling an arms race between the purveyors of #disinformation and those who are fighting it - and two expert observers say that means human intelligence is more important than ever during the closing days of this contentious presidential campaign. Check out the #FictionScience podcast. https://cosmiclog.com/2024/10/22/how-to-track-untrue-tales-in-the-disinformation-war/ #Tech #AI H/T @annaleen

@alanboyle I like the #FictionScience notion -- would this fit that genre? https://github.com/oaustegard/ihp-framework/blob/main/doc/Integrative%20Historical%20Prediction%20Framework.md

Artificial intelligence started out as a science-fiction idea, and then became a reality. Now real-world developments in #AI are inspiring a new wave of imaginative tales, according to a longtime sci-fi editor. The trend is the subject of the latest #FictionScience podcast. https://cosmiclog.com/2024/09/04/ai-goes-full-circle-from-fiction-to-science-and-back-again/ #Science #ScienceFiction #Books

AI goes full circle from fiction to science and back again
Artificial intelligence has had an effect on nearly every facet of modern life --- ranging from diagnosing diseases, to applying for a job, to deciding which movie to watch. Now it's reaching back into the realm where our notions about A
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/09/04/ai-goes-full-circle-from-fiction-to-science-and-back-again/
#FictionScienceClub #ArtificialIntelligence #Books #BotOrNot #CLUBClub #FictionScience #ScienceFiction

What happens if the alien invaders win? That's the premise for a new saga from Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck (a.k.a. James S.A. Corey), the writing team behind #TheExpanse sci-fi series. Hear them discuss "The Mercy of Gods" on the #FictionScience podcast. https://cosmiclog.com/2024/08/08/the-expanse-team-explores-what-happens-if-aliens-win/ #Space #ScienceFiction

‘The Expanse’ team explores what happens if aliens win
In nearly all alien-invasion tales, the puny humans somehow find a way to win --- for example, in classic novels like "The War of the Worlds," or in movies like "Independence Day" and "Battle: Los Angeles." But in a new novel by the authors of "The E
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/08/08/the-expanse-team-explores-what-happens-if-aliens-win/
#FictionScienceClub #Aliens #Books #CLUBClub #FictionScience #ScienceFiction #Space #TheExpanse

The @AllenInstitute #OpenScope program is supporting #brain experiments that focus on how psychedelic substances work, how memories of the past influence perceptions of the present, and how the brain's visual system interprets motion and texture. But there's also a wild card. Neuroscientist Jerome Lecoq explains in the latest episode of the #FictionScience podcast. https://cosmiclog.com/2024/07/28/how-a-brainstorm-could-unlock-mysteries-of-the-mind/ #Science

A screwball comedy titled #FlyMeToTheMoon builds its plot around efforts to give #NASA a publicity boost during the #Apollo era - and it's worth considering how NASA will present its #Artemis moon program to the public in the years to come. Marketing expert Richard Jurek and I delve into that topic in the latest #FictionScience podcast. https://cosmiclog.com/2024/07/12/movie-points-to-the-past-and-future-of-moon-marketing/ #Space #Marketing #ScarlettJohansson

How satellite wars will be fought — and won
Wars in space are no longer just science fiction. In fact, Space War I has been raging for more than two years, with no quick end in sight.

This isn't the kind of conflict that involves X-wing fighters or Space Marines. Instead, it's a battle over how satellites are being used to
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/07/05/how-satellite-wars-will-be-fought-and-won/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #FictionScience #Military #Satellites #SpaceForce #Spycraft

How de-extinction could change our destiny
It may sound cool to bring back the woolly mammoth after thousands of years of extinction — but Douglas Preston, the author of a novel that features the revival of the mammoths, has his doubts.

"If you take this and game it out to its logical end, you
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/04/22/how-de-extinction-could-change-our-destiny/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #CLUBClub #Deextinction #DouglasPreston #FictionScience #Genetics #Science #ScienceFiction

How the sport of rowing has changed since ‘The Boys in the Boat’ — and how it’s stayed the same - Thanks to tectonic shifts in technology and training, Olympic-level rowing has co... - https://www.geekwire.com/2023/rowing-tech-the-boys-in-the-boat/ #universityofwashington #fictionscience #sportstech #boattech #boating #movies #rowing

How rowing has changed since ‘The Boys in the Boat’
Thanks to tectonic shifts in technology and training, Olympic-level rowing has come a long way since the University of Washington’s eight-man crew pulled off the ultimate underdog win at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany — the achievement
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/12/23/the-boys-in-the-boat-rowing-tech/
#FictionScienceClub #Boating #Books #CLUBClub #FictionScience #Movies #Rowing #Science #Sports #Technology #UniversityOfWashington

How rowing has changed since ‘The Boys in the Boat’
Thanks to tectonic shifts in technology and training, Olympic-level rowing has come a long way since the University of Washington’s eight-man crew pulled off the ultimate underdog win at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany — the achievement
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/12/23/the-boys-in-the-boat-rowing-tech/
#FictionScienceClub #Boating #Books #CLUBClub #FictionScience #Movies #Rowing #Science #Sports #Technology #UniversityOfWashington

Get a reality check on plans to build cities in space
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos may harbor multibillion-dollar dreams of sending millions of people to live on Mars, on the moon and inside free-flying space habitats --- but a newly published book provides a prudent piece of advice: Don't go too bol
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/11/06/get-a-reality-check-on-plans-to-build-cities-in-space/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #FictionScience #LunarOutpost #Mars #Moon #ScienceFiction #Space #SpaceStations

‘Her Space, Her Time’ reveals hidden figures of physics
Quick: Name a woman scientist.

Chances are the name you came up with is Marie Curie, the physicist and chemist who won two Nobel Prizes more than a century ago for the discoveries she and her husband Pierre made about radioactivity.

But who else? In a new book tit
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/10/24/her-space-her-time-reveals-hidden-figures-of-physics/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #FictionScience #Physics #Science #Space #Women

‘The Creator’: Get a reality check on AI at the movies
Over the next 50 years, will humanity become too attached to the artificial-intelligence agents that dictate the course of our lives? Or is forming a deep attachment the only way we'll survive?

Those are the sorts of questions raised by "The Creator," Hollywoo
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/09/29/creator-reality-check-ai-movie/
#FictionScienceClub #ArtificialIntelligence #FictionScience #Movies #Science #ScienceFiction #Technology

Supervillain tale takes aim at today’s tech titans
There's nary a mention of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates in "Starter Villain," but science-fiction author John Scalzi's wickedly funny novel finds ways to skewer the tech billionaires who rule our world without dropping names.

Scalzi lays out a scenario in which sup
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/09/19/supervillain-tale-takes-aim-at-todays-tech-titans/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #CLUBClub #FictionScience #ScienceFiction #Technology

How we’ll find the first evidence of extraterrestrial life
When will we find evidence for life beyond Earth? And where will that evidence be found? University of Arizona astronomer Chris Impey, the author of a book called "Worlds Without End," is betting that the first evidence wil
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/07/28/how-well-find-the-first-evidence-of-extraterrestrial-life/
#FictionScienceClub #Aliens #Astrobiology #Books #CLUBClub #Exoplanets #FictionScience #ScienceFiction #SETI #Space

Today’s archaeologists make Indiana Jones look ancient
As the world’s best-known fictional archaeologist goes after what may be his last ancient mystery in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” new generations of real-life archaeologists are ready to dig in with 21st-century technologies and sensibilitie
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/06/29/todays-archaeologists-make-indiana-jones-look-ancient/
#FictionScienceClub #Anthropology #Archaeology #FictionScience #IndianaJones #Movies #Science

‘Men in Black’ saga turns into a cause for celebration
Even the Men in Black need their day in the sun. And they're getting it this week, in the place where those classic characters in UFO tales made their debut.

Roswell may be the nation's best-known UFO capital --- but you can make a good argument that the Seattle area served t
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/06/21/men-in-black-saga-turns-into-a-cause-for-celebration/
#FictionScienceClub #FBI #FictionScience #Movies #Television #UFOs

How fiction sparked our flights to the final frontier
The commercial spaceflight revolution didn't begin with Elon Musk. Or with Jeff Bezos, or Richard Branson, or any of the other billionaires who've spent a fortune on the final frontier over the past 20 years.

Would you believe it began with Ju
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/06/15/how-fiction-sparked-our-flights-to-the-final-frontier/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #CommercialSpaceflight #FictionScience #JeffreyManber #ScienceFiction #Space

Chasing SpaceX: The new space race gets a reality check
Can anyone keep up with SpaceX in the commercial space race?

It might be one of the four companies profiled in "When the Heavens Went on Sale" --- a new book written by Ashlee Vance, the tech journalist who chronicl
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/05/08/chasing-spacex-the-new-space-race-gets-a-reality-check/
#FictionScienceClub #AshleeVance #Astra #Books #CLUBClub #FictionScience #FireflyAerospace #PlanetLabs #RocketLab #Space #SpaceX

How quantum tech could change everything everywhere
What does quantum computing have in common with the Oscar-winning movie "Everything Everywhere All at Once"? One is a mind-blowing work of fiction, while the other is an emerging frontier in computer science — but both of them deal with rearrangements
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/04/30/how-quantum-tech-could-change-everything-everywhere/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #FictionScience #MichioKaku #Physics #QuantumComputing #Science #Technology