As if 2016 hadn’t already stolen enough of our beloved icons, this week we said goodbye to a pair of women who changed the face of science and science fiction, respectively: astrophysicist Vera Rubin, whose work confirmed the existence of dark matter, and actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in Star Wars. Rubin made tremendous … More Farewell to Leading Ladies of Science and Sci-Fi
My guest post on the gender gap in science fiction posted on the LibraryJournal SELF-e blog today, just as Iron Man 3 co-writer Shane Black revealed that Marvel’s corporate interests forced him to change the gender of the movie’s villain to sell more toys. According to Black, the original script featured a female version of antagonist Aldrich Killian, … More The Invisible Woman: Sexual Segregation in Sci-Fi
“Did you see the new Star Wars movie?” I texted my friend last weekend. He’s one of the few people in my circle who shares my lifelong affection for the franchise, so I was eager to discuss it with him. “No,” he replied. “I don’t want to see what they did to it.” For him, a … More Schrödinger’s Star Wars: Multiverses in Popular Fiction
NASA’s New Horizons mission completed its historic flyby of Pluto yesterday, giving us our first close-up look at the dwarf planet that marks the exit ramp from our solar system into the galaxy beyond. Earth began receiving images today (yes, a day later; it’s a very long-distance call). The pictures will give us our closet … More Pluto: Planet of the Nerds?
Wild Type 