Title and link to blog, with background image of a mysterious planet.
It's a new #scienceandSF blog day! Today in #CosmicStories I'm looking at the history of Planet X - outer solar system planets in #astronomy and #sciencefiction. Featuriong stories from Campbell, Cooper, Hasse, Baxter, Space Patrol and others.
www.warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstorie...
Comments welcome.
I shall have to investigate A Quiet Place - thank you for the suggestion. And yes, there were lots of Transformers to choose from - including a lot of the cassettes and Blaster too.
Do you have the equivalent for Swift? Sorry if I've missed it but am curious just how bad it's looking.
New blog! Today in #CosmicStories we're looking at sonic weaponry and devices in #scienceandSF and their impact in "The Walls of Jericho". Featuring Rudyard Kipling, Transformers, WH40K, Star Trek and many others, as well as a certain Doctor's famous screwdriver.
www.warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstorie...
Large figure 5 against a background of exaggerated astronomical phenomena, generated by AI tool NightCafe
It's a Bonus Blog day! To celebrate a full FIVE YEARS of Cosmic Stories this week, I'm posting a slightly more reflective biographical piece as the first in a new occasional series on #ScienceandSF - Scientific Journeys.
www.warwick.ac.uk/CosmicStorie...
Comments or other responses welcome!
In case anyone missed it at the weekend...
#bbcolympics Why do the track markers in the speed skating arena keep going flying? Is this not a hazard?
Title and link to blog.
New blog day! Today we're looking at uses of Lagrange Points in science and SF, featuring Forward, Baxter, Clarke, Space: Above and Beyond and many others... including a nod to @beamjockey.bsky.social and a recent story by Sean McMullen.
Comments always welcome.
www.warwick.ac.uk/CosmicStorie...
In case anyone missed it last week! #StarTrek #Exoplanets #Science #ScienceFiction
The UK is set to cut its budget for astronomy research by a third.
Since the few high-profile projects they are likely to continue to support, like ELT, tend to be the most expensive, it means even more drastic cuts to the rest of the field. It is effectively the end.
🧪🔭
ras.ac.uk/news-and-pre...
Strange New Worlds Exploring the science behind depictions of Exoplanets in the Star Trek universe. https://www.warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstories/strange_new_worlds/
Today in the #CosmicStories blog, we take a look at the #ScienceandSF of #Exoplanets through the lens of a case study: #StarTrek and its spin offs. Featuring #astronomy, #ScienceFiction, desert worlds, water planets, giants, and lots of Star Trek. Comments welcome!
www.warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstorie...
In case anyone missed it at the weekend! Also features #DoctorWho, #StarTrek, #Stargate and Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London, as well as the _other_ E E Smith.
Title and address of blog, with image of a technomage from television series Crusade
New blog! Today in #CosmicStories, we take a look at Clarke's Third Law: technologies indistinguishable from magic in #ScienceandSF. Featuring Arthur C Clarke, Roger Zelazny, Jack Vance, Babylon 5, Tolkien and others.
Comments always welcome!
www.warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstorie...
Title and link to blog: Sailing to the stars - solar sails in science and SF https://www.warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstories/sailing-to-the/
New blog! Today we take a look at Sailing to the Stars with solar sail ships. Featuring examples from Niven and Pournelle, Forward, Clarke, Anderson(s), Ken Liu, Star Trek and others. Comments welcome!
www.warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstorie...
In case anyone missed it last week!
Thank you! The field moves so fast that it's probably already out of date in places but it was fun to pull together and write.
I'm planning to introduce occasional bonus guest posts on these topics on my Cosmic Stories blog next year and am looking for contributors. Happy to share an example or two of what I mean to those interested in contributing. The rest of you will have to wait.
Topics might include how SF relates to one's work, how it influenced career choices or identification with the field, how it could be used for teaching, why it appeals to you as a scientist/engineer/teacher or even why its influence is negative/loathed. Either SF as a genre or a specific example.
Do I know anyone in a scientific or technical role (or retired from one) who feels like writing a short (~1000-2000 word) entry for an occasional series of bonus blogs on personal relationships with science fiction?
Title and link to blog, with image of a binary sunset in background.
New blog post! With Christmas looming, today in #CosmicStories, I'm taking a look at the #ScienceandSF of Holiday Worlds. Including work by Smith, Hast, Russ, Asimov, Doctor Who, Star Trek and others.
www.warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstories/out_of_this/
Comments welcome!
In case anyone missed it at the weekend...
New blog! Today in #CosmicStories I'm going to take a deep dive. I'm considering Doctor Who serial "Robot" as a case study of representations of robot intelligence, science and scientists in the 1970s.
www.warwick.ac.uk/CosmicStorie... (correct link!)
#DoctorWho #ScienceandSF #AI
Apologies for the broken link!
warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/phys...
The shortcut warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstorie... works too.
I really should learn not to post before coffee in the morning!
Image from 1974 BBC serial "Robot", in television series Doctor Who. With title and address of blog.
New blog! Today in #CosmicStories I'm going to take a deep dive. I'm considering Doctor Who serial "Robot" as a case study of representations of robot intelligence, science and scientists in the 1970s.
https;//www.warwick.ac.uk/CosmicStories/doctor_whos_robot/
#DoctorWho #ScienceandSF #AI
I'd missed that! Must have been before I boarded the Stanway Express with other followers.
Amazing that a parody written by two goofy grad students in the summer of '77, based on a rather obvious pun, has still been cited in AD 2025.
And such company! Hugo Gernsback! Tom Swift, Jr! Thunderbirds!
Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I'm not going to lie - I do a fair bit of research on each topic, to add to the ones which spring to mind, so can't quite claim as encyclopaedic knowledge as the blog may sometimes suggest.
Well done for getting it sorted. And even if you weren't referenced this time, I think I may have mentioned your Home on Lagrange filk in an earlier blog article! warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/phys...
In case anyone missed it yesterday :)
Title and link to blog with background image of building from television series Eureka.
New blog! Today in #CosmicStories, I'm looking at the #ScienceandSF of think tanks and scientific hothouses i.e. intensive science research centres. Featuring Eureka, Doctor Who, Star Trek and work by Asimov, Higgins, Smith and others
www.warwick.ac.uk/cosmicstorie...
Comments always welcome
In case anyone missed it yesterday...
