Food is one of our most basic desires. It’s the first thing we ask for after being born, the fuel for our work and our reward at the end of a long day. Because of this, it’s been an integral element of storytelling since Eve ate the apple, and science fiction and fantasy are no [...]

Music and technology have always gone hand in hand—and the explosive flowering of music as an art form in the last century is also the story of the explosive growth of technology. Indeed, people have recognized the potential of computers to revolutionize music since before there even were computers. In 1842, [...]

Calling "Lights! Camera! Action!" on a Hollywood stage to mimic the setting of a generic suburban apartment is easy. When a film takes place on another planet, convincingly evoking an alien world is more complicated than using the usual soundstage and standard backlot. Fortunately for filmmakers looking for setting options other [...]

Since the Martians first landed in Guildford, fellows with small mustaches and large empires have been defending the Earth. Nathaniel Tapley explores the enduring appeal of the honest, English chap in science fiction and fantasy.
He comes as Death From The Sky. He lays waste to civilizations and he has brought down empires. He treats [...]

To most movie buffs, the phrase "independent film" conjures up images of intensely personal low-budget films. While the term actually applies to any film outside the studio system, the Independent Film Movement has transformed the Indies into a fertile ground for nurturing new talent and exploring ideas that the mainstream [...]

Machines that think, dream, aspire: ever since John McCarthy coined the term ‘artificial intelligence’ in 1956, mankind has striven to create sentience.
To an extent, we’ve succeeded. Intelligent systems assist our elderly, vacuum our floors, and guide our web searches. Automated telephone assistants are nearly as easy to talk to as [...]

Science changes our understanding of the universe all the time. We move from vacuum tubes to integrated circuits to quantum computers. Hypotheses are proposed and then tested. But for the last hundred years or more, there’s been an important assumption that all scientists share: there’s nothing different about one patch of space compared to another [...]

Are you attending the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago in 2012? You may want to plan on going because it’s going to be the final Worldcon. Why? Haven’t you heard? The world is coming to an end on December 21, 2012 according to the ancient Mayan calendar.
Of course it [...]

Last September the popular science news was full of stories about Ascension Island1. This small volcanic island in the middle of the South Atlantic was nearly barren when Charles Darwin described it in 1836, supporting only 25 or 30 species of small plants, a flightless bird, and a land crab. But [...]

On January 30, 2011, iconic and very prolific musician and composer John Barry passed away, having been in ill health for some time. He was seventy-seven years old at the time of his passing, but he was a creative force that lived a very full and productive life, as the mourning over [...]