#fictionscienceclub — Public Fediverse posts

Occupy Mars? Or the moon? It’s time for a reality check
It's an age-old debate in space circles: Should humanity's first city on another world be built on the moon, or on Mars?

As recently as last year, SpaceX founder Elon Musk saw missions to the moon as a "distraction." In a post to his X social-media platform, he declared that "we're going straight to Mars."

But last wee
https://cosmiclog.com/2026/02/16/occupy-mars-or-the-moon-its-time-for-a-reality-check/
#FictionScienceClub

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘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

Movie points to the past and future of moon marketing
In a new movie titled "Fly Me to the Moon," a marketing consultant played by Scarlett Johansson uses Tang breakfast drink, Crest toothpaste and Omega watches to give a publicity boost to NASA's Apollo moon program.

The marketing consultant may be totally fictional. And don't get me started on the fake moon landing that's par
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/07/12/movie-points-to-the-past-and-future-of-moon-marketing/
#FictionScienceClub

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

The search for alien civilizations gets a reality check
Fortunately, the real-world search for signs of extraterrestrial civilizations doesn't have to deal with an alien armada like the one that's on its way to Earth in "3 Body Problem," the Netflix streaming series based on Chinese sci-fi author Cixin Liu's award-winning novels. But the trajectory of the search can have almost
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/03/22/the-search-for-alien-civilizations-gets-a-reality-check/
#FictionScienceClub

How startups could blaze a trail for cities on Mars
If future explorers manage to set up communities on Mars, how will they pay their way? What's likely to be the Red Planet's primary export? Will it be Martian deuterium, sent back to Earth for fusion fuel? Raw materials harvested by Mars-based asteroid miners, as depicted in the "For All Mankind" TV series? Or will future Martians
https://cosmiclog.com/2024/02/29/how-startups-could-blaze-a-trail-for-cities-on-mars/
#FictionScienceClub

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

How AI and quantum physics link up to consciousness
Will artificial intelligence serve humanity — or will it spawn a new species of conscious digital beings with their own agenda?

It's a question that has sparked scores of science-fiction plots, from "Colossus: The Forbin Project" in 1
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/11/26/how-ai-and-quantum-physics-link-up-to-consciousness/
#FictionScienceClub #ArtificialIntelligence #BotOrNot #Brain #Consciousness #Neuroscience #QuantumComputing #Science

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

Novelist charts a course for the future space frontier
If Jeff Bezos needs a blueprint for building a space station beyond the moon with ore from an asteroid, he just might want to start with "Critical Mass," a newly published sci-fi novel by Daniel Suarez.

The 464-page book
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/03/07/novelist-charts-a-course-for-the-future-space-frontier/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #CommercialSpaceflight #DanielSuarez #FictionScience #Moon #ScienceFiction #Space #Spacestations

‘Observer’ blends way-out quantum science and fiction
Do we each create our own reality? Could different observers create measurably different realities? It's a fantastical line of thought that has sparked scientific inquiries as well --- and now the science and the fiction
https://cosmiclog.com/2023/01/09/observer-blends-way-out-quantum-science-and-fiction/
#FictionScienceClub #Books #CLUBClub #Consciousness #FictionScience #NancyKress #QuantumMechanics #RobertLanza #ScienceFiction

Avatars return to the movies - and find a real-life foothold:

Thirteen years after the original “Avatar” movie came out, the idea of human minds inhabiting alien bodies is returning for an amped-up sequel ⁠— and since 2009, real-life efforts to create robotic avatars have advanced at least as much as computer-aided filmmaking has.

https://cosmiclog.com/2022/12/15/avatar-movies-real-life-foothold/

#FictionScienceClub #Avatar #FictionScience #ScienceFiction #Space #Movies #Science #Robots #Technology #XPrize