Essays archive
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Essay
Seagoing science: riffing on the rift
A glimpse into deep sea exploration
Elliott Smith 15 December 2019 -
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The literary Ada
In honor of Ada Lovelace Day, a round-up of fictional re-imaginings of the Victorian programmer
Eileen McGinnis 9 October 2018 -
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Filling in the blanks
Why novels excel at bringing scientific practice to life
Pippa Goldschmidt 24 August 2018 -
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Humanity through the lens of fiction
Why science storytelling should transcend the facts
Stephen McGann 18 June 2018 -
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The metaphorical richness of science in fiction
(and the dangers of taking it literally)
Philip Ball 18 June 2018 -
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Science fiction or fact? It’s merely a question of time
Dystopian author Margaret Atwood blurs the lines
Anne Burke 4 February 2018 -
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Inside the science book group
Confessions of a Fiction Lab regular
Richard Marshall 4 August 2015 -
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Chasing the future
There is life beyond your high-school exams
Phoebe Gee 14 June 2015 -
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The silence of the labs
On the social harm of headphones
Stella Hill 4 May 2015 -
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To travel forth so far
Shakespeare, exported to new stages
Rachel Rodman 19 April 2015 -
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A passion for physics
Mitchell Wilson: Forgotten lab lit novelist
Kirk Smith 22 March 2015 -
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A bitter pill to swallow
Obituary: Carl Djerassi, the father of science-in-fiction
Jennifer Rohn 6 March 2015 -
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Shawshank Redemption in the lab
On the one that got away
Johanna Lee 29 December 2014 -
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Unleashing viral apocalypse
Just how important is health and safety?
Bill Hanage 14 July 2014 -
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Predicting the cosy catastrophe
Environmental breakdown through fiction's lens
Martin Griffiths 6 July 2014 -
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Mars calling: the making of Transmissions From Colony One
John W. Richter on a personal space odyssey
Ericka Meaghan Kilgore 20 May 2014 -
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The art of surgery
Experiments in parabiosis, using two-dimensional animals
Rachel Rodman 1 May 2014 -
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The bliss of pain
Why it's all in your head
Samiha S. Shaikh 6 April 2014 -
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The best laboratory is in your head
An argument for Renaissance Man
Wilson J. Wall 31 March 2014 -
Essay
Happy birthday, DNA: Part 3
Of an ageless Clint Eastwood
Corrado Nai 23 February 2014 -
Essay
Happy birthday, DNA: Part 2
Of Johannes Gutenberg on drugs
Corrado Nai 14 January 2014 -
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Happy birthday, DNA
Of pub lions and trilingual books
Corrado Nai 11 December 2013 -
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Giant ants and other tales
Behind the scenes at Action Science Theatre
Action Science Theatre 27 October 2013 -
Essay
Surrealism and the organism
Notes on Benjamin Péret's Natural History
Rachel Rodman 14 October 2013 -
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The Krone Experiment Saga II: the movie
Further adventures in 'astro lit'
Craig Wheeler 9 September 2013 -
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Kurt Vonnegut escapes the prison of time - Part II
How fiction writers can set us free
Martin Griffiths 18 August 2013 -
Essay
Kurt Vonnegut escapes the prison of time - Part I
How fiction writers can set us free
Martin Griffiths 11 August 2013 -
Essay
Something (probably not) outright barbarous
Politics, science and the English language
Jan Jacardos 23 June 2013 -
Essay
Our own worst enemies?
Why resistance is not futile, and what that means for cancer research
Sarah Byrne 24 April 2013 -
Essay
The Krone Experiment: an ‘astro lit’ family saga
Adventures in publishing a lab lit thriller
Craig Wheeler 3 March 2013 -
Essay
Authors, algorithms
On writing computer science in fiction
Charles Lewis 17 February 2013 -
Essay
A real-life Jurassic Park?
High time someone threw money at the problem
Sci-Fi Bloggers 3 February 2013 -
Essay
The sound of a tree falling
After the Delhi rapes, a female scientist speaks out
Tarabai 27 January 2013 -
Essay
Too many trees out there
Science is broken: how can we fix it?
Jan Jacardos 20 January 2013 -
Essay
Quality control
Self-publishing vs. trad publishing: an experiment
Steve Caplan 13 January 2013 -
Essay
Forget the flying car - where's my food rehydrator?
Musings on fiction-come-true
Sci-Fi Bloggers 23 November 2012 -
Essay
The hunt for fiction about science
An unabashedly personal account of my search for an elusive genre
Kirk Smith 18 November 2012 -
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Transforming science into story: Part 4
Rationalism and emotion
Jennifer Cryer 29 September 2012 -
Essay
Are they talking about us?
Lab lit fiction as a force for good
J. L. Greger 2 September 2012 -
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Transforming science into story: Part 3
Science, literature and language
Jennifer Cryer 28 August 2012 -
Essay
Transforming science into story: Part 2
Aspects of literature as a mediator of science
Jennifer Cryer 22 July 2012 -
Essay
Transforming science into story: Part 1
On melding science and literary discourses
Jennifer Cryer 6 July 2012 -
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The Mars that was
On the legacy of Ray Bradbury
Martin Griffiths 24 June 2012 -
Essay
Net gain
On crowd-sourcing scientific research funding
Bill Hanage 23 May 2012 -
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Looking for a leading lady?
Women scientists capture the imagination
J. L. Greger 14 February 2012 -
Essay
You do what?
An entomologist’s guide to dating
Madeline McCurry-Schmidt 4 February 2012 -
Essay
Nowhere special
What does Alex Hartley's island art teach us?
Philip Strange 28 November 2011 -
Essay
Deep observation
On how modern cosmologists see the Universe
Henry Joy McCracken 18 September 2011 -
Essay
Scientific dreams, scientific nightmares
How does literature envision utopia?
Martin Griffiths 4 August 2011 -
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Glastonbury's down the toilet
Not the most rock-n-roll science project ever
Philip Strange 10 July 2011 -
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How not to get a lab job
What your approach says about you
Steve Caplan 5 June 2011 -
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What makes us tick
Using science to dissect life's rhythms
John Ankers 5 May 2011 -
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Flights of fancy
Celebrating 100 years of superconductivity
Julien Bobroff 1 May 2011 -
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Microbiology in a Devon lane
The science behind cider
Philip Strange 14 February 2011 -
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A hundred years after Robert Scott
Centennial musings from a modern polar explorer
Seelye Martin 28 November 2010 -
Essay
From fact to fiction and back again
Comma Press highlights the Eureka Moment
Joely Black 21 November 2010 -
Essay
Science education for all
Scientists are only one part of the story
Khalil A. Cassimally 14 November 2010 -
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What’s so special about science?
It's time to stand up for what matters
Rich Quick 26 September 2010 -
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Earth closets and Great Stinks
The science of Victorian sewage
Philip Strange 8 August 2010 -
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Euclid's Fifth, July Fourth
What's math got to do with it?
Seelye Martin 30 June 2010 -
Essay
My brief study of physics
A long-ago science project still haunts
Barry Basden 26 May 2010 -
Essay
Can science fiction be lab lit?
The scientific profession through the lens of fiction
Jon Turney 18 April 2010 -
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A very human physicist
On the great life of Lise Meitner
Philip and Elizabeth Strange 6 April 2010 -
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Inner sanctum
From the desk of a scientist
Bill Hanage 27 February 2010 -
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Science and spirituality: the gospel according to Sagan
Part II: A sensible god would approve of scientists
Martin Griffiths & Carlos Oliveira 9 February 2010 -
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Shame on you, John!
The ethics of synthetic cannabinoid research
Philip Strange 31 January 2010 -
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Print on demand
In defense of the non-virtual
Seelye Martin 25 January 2010 -
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Science and spirituality: the gospel according to Sagan
Part I: Is there a religion within science?
Martin Griffiths & Carlos Oliveira 24 January 2010 -
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Deconstructing the lab rat
How metaphors both reveal and conceal
Koen Beumer 18 January 2010 -
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History is what we remember, not what happened
In science, credit doesn't always follow the deserving
Philip Strange 2 December 2009 -
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Songs of my youth
Where have all the science lyrics gone?
Martin Griffiths 8 November 2009 -
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Hybridity gets fashionable
The novel White Teeth offers a different perspective on science
Andréia Azevedo Soares 24 October 2009 -
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Music(ian) of the spheres
William Herschel and the astronomical revolution
Martin Griffiths 18 October 2009 -
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Literature as experiment
The two cultures may have more in common than we think
Pippa Goldschmidt 30 September 2009 -
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Fifty years on - the Two Cultures revisited
Have we moved on since CP Snow?
Philip Strange 26 July 2009 -
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Lost in darkness and distance
Why girls don't want to be scientists - and how the classroom might fix it
Julie Darbyshire 5 July 2009 -
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Not so mad, bad and dangerous
The dawn of the modern scientist in literature
Martin Griffiths 14 June 2009 -
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Where art meets science
An architectural love affair
Philip Strange 31 May 2009 -
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Competition in science
Driving science forward or a waste of resources?
Alexis Barr 10 May 2009 -
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Bringing science down to earth
Dark Skies Wales is a new way to engage
Allan Trow 10 May 2009 -
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Scientists: heroes or villains?
What we can learn from the Barbie Drug
Philip Strange 3 May 2009 -
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Untangling the string
From the BSCB Science Writing Competition
Emily Pritchard 12 April 2009 -
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On God and aliens
How the extraterrestrial question affects us all
Martin Griffiths & Carlos Oliveira 5 April 2009 -
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Ode to Updike
Sharing pages with a lost legend
Daniel Rohn 8 February 2009 -
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Dress rehearsal for the future
Why science fiction should be part of the curriculum
Martin Griffiths 1 February 2009 -
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When fibs just aren't cute
Even minor lies undermine science journalism
Philip Strange 11 January 2009 -
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Weird science
Digging behind the sofa cushions of the research literature
Reto Schneider 4 January 2009 -
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Schrödinger’s hedge fund
What economics can learn from science
Bill Hanage 28 December 2008 -
Essay
New experiment in the White House
How will science fare under Obama?
Bill Hanage 23 November 2008 -
Essay
Run that by me again?
On the joys of the lay summary
Stephen Curry 9 November 2008 -
Essay
Clinically unproven
On the misuse of science in advertising
Philip Strange 12 October 2008 -
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Scientists: get off your pedestal and get round the table
'Science and Truth' meets Talkaoke
David Weinkove 12 October 2008 -
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Hard cell
What media accounts of real scientists can teach us
Philip Strange 14 September 2008 -
Essay
In a man's world
The feminism, fiction, science and philosophy of Margaret Cavendish
Martin Griffiths 31 August 2008 -
Essay
Teaching to the enemy
Countering ignorance of evolution in the front line of America's university classrooms
Rob Carey 18 August 2008 -
Essay
Heat of the moment?
On preventing scientific gaffes
Philip Strange 10 August 2008 -
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My kids think I'm a boffin
A science teacher stumbles over a stereotype
Alom Shaha 20 July 2008 -
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Sacrifice
When scientists have to kill
Alison Christy 6 July 2008 -
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The uncompromising lens
On fiction, science and social criticism
Martin Griffiths 22 June 2008 -
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Science at sea
What the novels of Patrick O'Brian can teach us
Stephen Curry 6 April 2008 -
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The limits of humanity
Are animal/human hybrids truly inhuman?
Bill Hanage 30 March 2008 -
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Credit where credit's due
Science metaphors are remembered more than their creators
Alom Shaha 30 March 2008 -
Essay
Unstopping the bottle
A self-publishing experiment comes to fruition
Frank Ryan 16 February 2008 -
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The big sacrifice
In animal research, uncomfortable questions are unavoidable
Stella Hill 27 January 2008 -
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Under a Celtic sky
The lesser-known stories of the stars
Martin Griffiths 13 January 2008 -
Essay
Mouthing off: a cautionary tale
What are famous scientists allowed to say?
Bill Hanage 2 December 2007 -
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Modifying the meme
A fictional perspective on science
Julie Darbyshire 25 November 2007 -
Essay
Badgered to death
Why is the government's own science adviser ignoring the science?
Bill Hanage 4 November 2007 -
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Found in space
The MINDful Play Environment is born
Dene Grigar & Steve Gibson 28 October 2007 -
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It's life, Jim, but as we know it
Deconstructing Craig Venter's latest creation
Bill Hanage 21 October 2007 -
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Flights of fancy - Part III
The birth of the British Interplanetary Society
Martin Griffiths 30 September 2007 -
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A pox on virtual plagues
'Corrupted Blood': valuable scientific tool, or a waste of journal space?
Bill Hanage 30 September 2007 -
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Flights of fancy - Part II
Rocket pioneers lead the way
Martin Griffiths 23 September 2007 -
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Flights of fancy - Part I
How early novelists inspired spaceflight
Martin Griffiths 16 September 2007 -
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The fertile incubator
On growing up at Cold Spring Harbor
David Bryson 26 August 2007 -
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Alien Worlds hit closer to home
An innovative project uses astronomy to reconnect faltering students with the wider universe
Allan Trow & Catherine Tryfona 5 August 2007 -
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Super-bugged
Why won't politicians listen to scientists?
Bill Hanage 8 July 2007 -
Essay
The Sigil lands in iFiction
How users are expanding the versatility of a new online fiction distribution site
Andrew Burt 10 June 2007 -
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Belief is not enough
On preaching to the unconverted
Henry Schreiber 13 May 2007 -
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Reinventing the science paper
How impenetrable writing harms science
Linda Cooper 6 May 2007 -
Essay
Muses of science and war
Remembering Kurt Vonnegut
Henry Joy McCracken 22 April 2007 -
Essay
Dragon rising
A quest towards self-publication: entry 12
Frank Ryan 1 April 2007 -
Essay
Malignant meat
One cancer scare too far - at least in humans
Bill Hanage 25 March 2007 -
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The blade of destiny
A quest towards self-publication: entry 11
Frank Ryan 25 March 2007 -
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It’s all there...in my DNA
Playing fast and loose with genetic truth
Paul Andrews 17 March 2007 -
Essay
Dr. Bacteria
The strange science fiction of Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Laura Otis 11 March 2007 -
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Mission: Prometheus
A quest towards self-publication: entry 10
Frank Ryan 11 March 2007 -
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Countdown
A quest towards self-publication: entry 9
Frank Ryan 4 March 2007 -
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First quest
A quest towards self-publication: entry 8
Frank Ryan 25 February 2007 -
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A book of surprises
A quest towards self-publication: entry 7
Frank Ryan 18 February 2007 -
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Meet my dragon!
A quest towards self-publication: entry 6
Frank Ryan 21 January 2007 -
Essay
Storms and skirmishes
A quest towards self-publication: entry 5
Frank Ryan 14 January 2007 -
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New Horizons
The web offers hope for those disappointed with science on TV
Alom Shaha 14 January 2007 -
Essay
The Dragon Liberator
A quest towards self-publication: entry 4
Frank Ryan 7 January 2007 -
Essay
Joining the Pod Squad
Is anybody out there?
Kat Arney 23 December 2006 -
Essay
There's gold in that there bullshit
A quest towards self-publication: entry 3
Frank Ryan 17 December 2006 -
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The goddess in my dreams
A quest towards self-publication: entry 2
Frank Ryan 10 December 2006 -
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The Dragon in the Stone
On the quest to publish a science thriller
Frank Ryan 3 December 2006 -
Essay
Parallel cell universe
How eukaryotic cells should work - but apparently don’t
Carter Bancroft 19 November 2006 -
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Steve Irwin’s big sting and other tales
Beyond science pornography
Bill Hanage 30 September 2006 -
Essay
The Glider
A childhood reminscence
Martin Raff 24 September 2006 -
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A culture of curiosity
What modern readers can learn from George Eliot
Mark Haw 24 September 2006 -
Essay
Remembering Max
The Phage Group honors its own
Jennifer Rohn 31 August 2006 -
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Undead ringer
What can nuking zombies tell us about infectious disease control?
Bill Hanage 21 August 2006 -
Essay
News from an unknown universe
Inspecting the facts in science fiction
Sally-Ann Spencer 5 August 2006 -
Essay
Scientific spaces, scientific thinking
Does the size of your lab bench matter?
Jennifer Rohn 8 July 2006 -
Essay
Blogging about nukes
A new virtual debate from the Institute of Physics
Kat Arney 4 June 2006 -
Essay
Once more, with comprehension
The more sinister side of jargon
Bill Hanage 21 May 2006 -
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The voice of the scientist
Researchers as novelists and characters
Clare Dudman 14 May 2006 -
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Bring back the nightmares
On the role of science communication and literature in nuclear deterrence
Alom Shaha 27 April 2006 -
Essay
Henrik Ibsen and public science policy
Taking STEPS to enhance PEST
Nicholas Russell 9 April 2006 -
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Science through the looking glass of literature
What the textbooks can't teach us
Frans Saris 12 March 2006 -
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Combining fiction and science
My hot ticket to publication (not)
James Aach 18 February 2006 -
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Thomas Hardy, Richard Proctor and the dialogue of the deaf
How scientists evolved to be resistant to public accountability
Nicholas Russell 18 February 2006 -
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The fledgling professional
A scientific career and mountaineering have a lot in common
Terry Ord 30 January 2006 -
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The Lab Reporters
What it is that ‘science communicators’ do?
Alom Shaha 18 January 2006 -
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An unkind literature
Why has the novel shortchanged science?
Lewis Wolpert 18 January 2006 -
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The Dorkbots are among us
On an underground cultural phenomenon
Nick Woolley 10 January 2006 -
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Beyond science fiction
Writers experimenting with reality need to be more daring
Bill Hanage 2 December 2005 -
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Eat more, exercise less and lose weight – honest!
Why TV scientists can't be trusted
Helen Pickersgill 25 September 2005 -
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Strange bedfellows
Superimposing art and science as kindred concepts may be fashionable, but is it justified?
Lewis Wolpert 18 July 2005 -
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The science that people swallow
Just how 'friendly' are those bacteria, anyway?
Bill Hanage 3 July 2005 -
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Do artists play sports?
The ‘science-art divide’ is a myth of our own making
Andrew Charalambous 2 June 2005 -
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Intelligent Design revamps an old familiar tune
But do people really believe we’ll take it as science?
Bill Hanage 31 March 2005 -
Essay
What is Lab Lit (the genre)?
Boffins are so last century - let's see some real scientists for a change
Jennifer Rohn 7 March 2005