Pie in the sky?
Chase Elliot Clarke
The race to bring the jetpack to market exemplifies some of the highs and lows of sci-fi inspired innovation.
An ethical robot – as science fiction.
exo_duz/flickr
We are approaching the time when robots in our daily lives will be making decisions about how to act. What guidelines should we give them?
Mclek/Shutterstock
Science fiction provides a valuable resource from which the public view of AI can be assessed.
Osgood is one of the many female scientists depicted working alongside the Doctor.
BBC
How does one of the world’s most iconic science fiction television series depict women doing science?
James Brown fans Bamako.
Utopianism is a neglected prism through which to view Africa. It is the space where the intricacies of decolonisation and independence can be properly comprehended.
The X-wing fighters have been criticised for doing World War II dogfights in space.
YouTube/Star Wars (screen grab)
Some people love to pick holes in science fiction movies, such as Star Wars, especially when they stray from science fact. But does it really matter?
Beware the digital evolution.
Pixabay
Science fiction has long warned of technology taking over the world. We’re increasingly connected to a digital world that’s growing, and more automated. So what if it starts to evolve?
Up into the imagination!
John Polgreen/James Vaughan/Flickr
Desember 27, 2015
Michael J. I. Brown , Monash University ; Alice Gorman , Flinders University ; Bryan Gaensler , University of Toronto ; Duncan Galloway , Monash University ; Geraint Lewis , University of Sydney ; Helen Maynard-Casely , Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation ; Matthew Browne , CQUniversity Australia , dan Rob Brooks , UNSW Sydney
Have you ever wondered what real scientists think of science fiction? Here’s a selection of top pics from those in the know.
BB-8 (left) is a new droid addition to the Star Wars universe.
Disney
The droids in the Star Wars universe often play a key role in the movies. But how close are they to some of the real robots in our own universe?
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
© Lucasfilm
JJ Abrams made a terrible Star Trek film that perfectly prepared him to make a great Star Wars movie.
© 2015 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Right Reserved.
The alternate reality visualised in Star Wars is now potentially much closer to home.
It’s okay in science fiction but not in real life: A robot (Robin Williams, left) who dreams of becoming human in the movie Bicentennial Man.
AAP/Touchstone Pictures
Science fiction can be good at predictiong soem of the technologies of tomorrow. But designers take note: not all those ideas are welcome.
The real force of Star Wars is to be found in its music, an aural cocktail of orchestral pieces punctuated with lightsabers, hyperspace leaps, and a hint of droid.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
For all the speculative commentary as to what the new Star Wars trailer reveals plot-wise, its true “force” is surely located in the various sounds that infuse this perfectly constructed teaser.
In The Martian, the stakes are neither bigger, nor smaller, than a single human life.
20th Century Fox
Review: stranded on Mars’ desolate landscape, a cocky, endearing protagonist breathes life into this survival tale.
20th Century Fox
The latest of the spate of recent space films may be the brightest, but it doesn’t inspire this author to head to the Red Planet.
He’s going to have to ‘science the shit out of this’.
20th Century Fox
The Martian is a rare film that seeks to use science to enhance the plot, and gives a sense of the splendour of the Red Planet.
BBC/David Venni
Five science (fiction) reasons why you should get to know Doctor Who.
Science in the Cinema this year sorted fact from fiction in the 1982 cult classic Bladerunner.
ElectricDynamite/flickr
Medical research can be complex and difficult to understand, but cinematic representations of mad scientists who speak gobbledygook add to the confusion. An annual event separates fact from fiction.
Khánh Hmoong
Whatever name you give it, writing of this sort is increasingly becoming the prime location for imaginative representations of our culture’s deepest hopes and fears.
Roaming among the dinosaurs in Jurassic World.
ILM/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment
Science-fiction, to some extent, can indeed create science.