Category: Science
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The Zoo Hypothesis: Objections
Recently the magisterial Centauri Dreams 'blog ran a post by Paul Gilster about the "Copernican Principle" and how it conflicts with the observed facts about life in the Universe. (Short version: the Copernican Principle says Earth should be an average world, but if that's the case, why don't we see more signs of life elsewhere?…
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Notes on Time Travel Stories
Time travel has been a fixture of science fiction ever since a young Englishman named H.G. Wells wrote his first novel, The Time Machine. Wells wasn't the first person to write about time jumps — Mark Twain did it in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court — but before Wells it was always treated…
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The Subsurface Agency Wants YOU!
Geoff Manaugh is an interesting writer — his book A Burglar's Guide to the City is something everyone should read — and he has a fascinating blog called BLDGBLOG. The most recent post (as of this writing) is about some ambitious projects to do large-scale surveys of the subsurface environment using ground-penetrating radar, sonar, and…
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Nope
I write science fiction. I'm a huge astronomy buff, and a fan of all things space-related. I'm theoretically in the middle of writing a series about designing alien planets and extraterrestrial civilizations. So now that the United States Congress is holding hearings on whether there are alien spacecraft visiting the Earth, and whether the armed…
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Howard Hughes Vindicated!
DARPA, the Defense Department's official mad-scientist branch, has signed contracts with two companies to develop a super-heavy-lift flying boat for military transport. Here's the article from the US Naval Institute Web site. Why resurrect a technology which has been sidelined for seventy years? Since the end of World War II flying boats have hung on…
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Notes on Worldbuilding Part 12: Hot Life
Update (May 2023): I've amended this entry to reflect some stuff I've learned since I posted it. Specifically, the section on dusty plasma, and an expansion of the sulfur-based life section. Upper Update (December 2023): Isaac Arthur has a video up about silicon-based life. You can watch it here. So far, most of the characteristics of…
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Notes on Worldbuilding Part 11: Artificial Worlds
I wasn't exactly sure where to put this, since it could just as easily appear later in the series after I've discussed alien civilizations and technologies. But this feels like the right place. Until now we've talked about planets and moons which form naturally, the result of random planetesimals and interplanetary dust accreting and colliding.…
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My WorldCon Schedule
In two and a half weeks I'll be in Chicago for ChiCon 8, the 80th World Science Fiction Convention. I offered to participate in programming events, and they're really making me sing for my supper this time. Thursday, September 1 (all times are CDT) 2:30 P.M.: Writing and Story Development for Tabletop Games. This is…
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Notes on Worldbuilding Part 10: Weird Worlds
Most of the planets we've been talking about are analogous to the worlds of our own Solar System. But planetary scientists have come up with some planet types which might exist circling other stars. Small variations in element abundances when a system forms can lead to very exotic worlds. Carbon Planets: Carbon is one of…
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Notes on Worldbuilding Part 9: Moons!
I'm back! Let's talk about moons now. Most planets have moons, ranging from little chunks of ice or rock to planet-sized bodies like Triton or Titan. Moons can affect their primary planet — and sufficiently large moons of a giant planet in the Goldilocks Zone might be habitable worlds in their own right. How Big?…
The Cambias Digression 