Science Fiction Physics

Watch out - the Earth just fell into a dark sun's orbit! Or maybe you'd rather visit a theme park called Hell? These are just two of the strange and unnerving tales you'll find in this collection of great science fiction and fantasy stories.

In this highly original book, Russell Blackford discusses the intersection of science fiction and humanity’s moral imagination. With the rise of science and technology in the 19th century, and our continually improving understanding of the cosmos, writers and thinkers soon began to imagine futures greatly different from the present. Science fiction was born out of the realization that future techno-scientific advances could dramatically change the world.

Based on the newly released personal letters of Albert Einstein, Walter Isaacson explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk, a struggling father in a difficult marriage who couldn't get a teaching job or a doctorate, became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos, the locksmith of the mysteries of the atom and the universe. His success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane.

Both pseudoscience and science fiction (SF) are creative endeavors that have little in common with academic science, beyond the superficial trappings of jargon and subject matter. The most obvious difference between the two is that pseudoscience is presented as fact, not fiction. This engaging and well-researched audiobook explores a wide range of intriguing similarities and differences between pseudoscience and the fictional science found in SF.

Four sci-fi short stories where you'll find good computers, people who regret their past, and an explanation for something you're familiar with.

I spent ten earth years looking for her. Her betrayal corroded my soul,, and I wanted revenge. I wanted her to experience all the pain I had gone through ever since she abandoned me to my fate. Unfortunately, I was never on time. Whenever I thought I had her, she was long gone, as if she could sense I was coming for her, and that only fueled my anger. However, lately my urgency is fueled by something completely different. Dread and an uncanny bad feeling made my soul cringe pushed me to find her faster than ever. Something was wrong, and I needed to find her to find out what it was. And ...

Embark on a gripping journey to the edges of the known universe with "The Prometheus Protocol." When the starship Astarte arrives at Kepler-186f, Captain Zara Vega and her team find more than an alien landscape—they discover a mysterious artifact pulsing with otherworldly energy. As they delve into its secrets, the artifact unlocks a power that transforms one crew member and forces them to confront the boundaries of human morality, knowledge, and survival. Racing against time, the crew faces a pivotal choice: harness the artifact’s power to elevate humanity or risk annihilation. In this...

In Albury, Adrian and his team must face the most terrifying of all enemies: his fellow humans. The team has done everything right. They have killed off all of Adhava's kids and in doing so denied her reinforcements, but now she has fled into a dungeon. In Dungeon, Adrian and his team need to hunt her down. In Home Bound Adrian faces threats he is aware of; weak but numerous enemies that no one else would even think about challenging. He is not at all concerned because of a simple fact of life: if you know what's coming, the risk can be mitigated or avoided in its entirety.

When an overworked team of government physicists unwittingly invites something catastrophic into the world, rising young New York lawyer Cal Griffin is forced into a strange new role in a world of nightmare and wonder.

Did NASA really spend millions creating a pen that would write in space? Is chocolate poisonous to dogs? Does stress cause gray hair? These questions are a sample of the urban lore investigated in this audiobook, Fact or Fiction: Science Tackles 58 Popular Myths. Drawing from Scientific American’s “Fact or Fiction” and “Strange But True” columns, we’ve selected 58 of the most surprising, fascinating, useful, and just plain wacky topics confronted by our writers over the years.

Aaliyah's passion for quantum computing knew no bounds, and the chance to attend a lecture by the renowned Dr. O'Malley was a dream come true. But when a school trip to a cutting-edge space station spirals into chaos after a quantum computer explosion, she finds herself caught in an unimaginable situation—a time loop that only she and a select few are aware of. With each repetitive day, Aaliyah and her newfound allies, including the enigmatic Ethan and the artificial intelligence known as Wayfarer, must unravel the mysteries of the loop. Guided by Dr. O'Malley's wisdom in the science of ...

What’s scarier than a vampire? That’s right physics. Add both together, add a murder mystery, some time travel, a battle between two classic muscle cars and you have a story. Another body was found in the park. Same details as the others, odd clothing from centuries ago, no ID, and all of his blood had been drained. Detective Dani Foster put the puzzle pieces together and realized this serial killer was not only hiding in the distant future, he used his ability to time-travel as a weapon. This body was different. It was a message. She would be the killer’s next victim. What this ...

From the stars they came to study us. Instead, they discovered what it truly means to be human. When five advanced alien scientists crash-land on Earth, their mission of passive observation becomes a desperate year-long struggle to understand humanity's true nature. Disguised as humans and embedded in key positions across society—a political consultant, an environmental researcher, a university professor, a military contractor, and a hospital doctor—they discover that Earth's inhabitants are far more complex than their data suggested. Led by Captain Zara, the youngest commander in her ...

In a world where death has become predictable, one girl holds the key to saving time itself. Sixteen-year-old Lena Mitchell has always seen people's death dates floating above their heads—a curse she's kept secret her entire life. But when everyone in her small town suddenly shares the same expiration date, she realizes her curse might be the only thing standing between her community and annihilation. As a shadowy tech corporation's temporal experiment spirals out of control, Lena must join forces with Marcus, a mysteriously immune teenage barista, and Jimmy, the son of a brilliant ...

The Science of Superheroes takes a lighthearted but clear-headed look at the real science that underlies some of the greatest superhero comic books of all time, including Spider-Man, Batman, Fantastic Four, and many more. Each chapter presents the story of the origin of one or more superheroes and asks intriguing questions that lead to fascinating discussions about the limits of science, the laws of nature, and the future of technology.

The afterlife doesn't come with a manual. In fact, Hart and Bowler (two ordinary but dead men) have had to work out the rules of their new existence for themselves. It's that fact (along with being unable to leave the boundaries of their city center, unable to communicate with the other lost souls, unable to rest in case The Beast catches up with them) that makes getting out of their situation a priority. But Hart and Bowler don't know why they're there in the first place; if they ever want to leave, they will have to find all the answers to be able to understand the physics of the dead.

How does Einstein’s description of space and time compare with Doctor Who? Can James Bond really escape from an armor-plated railroad car by cutting through the floor with a laser concealed in a wristwatch? What would it take to create a fully intelligent android, such as Star Trek’s Commander Data? Exploring Science Through Science Fiction addresses these and other intriguing questions, using science fiction as a springboard for discussing fundamental science concepts and cutting-edge science research.

Southern Africa, 2065. Liyan Madikizela is four months pregnant when her partner Tym, a deep-web researcher, reads out a puzzling entry from an Englishwoman's 1836 travel journal. While visiting a lush farm with a manor house set below a loaf-shaped mountain, the writer reportedly saw men in futuristic suits and helmets carrying armaments, some of which seemed to emit light. But when Tym tries to view remnants of the farm via satellite imagery, it remains a mystery. Finding the place becomes his obsession, and later, when city inhabitants flee to the countryside after a solar storm, he ...

Our brains evolved to solve the survival problems of our Stone Age ancestors, so when faced with modern-day situations that are less extreme, they often encounter a mismatch. Our primitive brains put us on the wrong foot by responding to stimuli that - in prehistoric times - would have prompted behaviour that was beneficial. If you've ever felt an anxious fight-or-flight response to a presenting at a board meeting, equivalent to facing imminent death by sabre-toothed tiger, then you have experienced a mismatch.

Adrian's journey to get to Melbourne continues, and he realizes sometimes the only path to success is to do things slower. He has promised to accept the quest for Jules' sake, but his interface is also adamant that completing the quest is the only way he reaches Melbourne. Not only will he need to find the fortitude to kill, he will also need to work out how to complete the quest requirements.