Science Fiction
carlyo | January 2, 2014By Stacy Jannis
Kavli Science Video Contest Manager
The Kavli Science in Fiction Video Contest challenges Gr 6-12 students to examine the science in fiction, including science fiction movies, TV shows, and games. Our contest advisors include science educators , scientists, and Hollywood scifi visual effects experts. Follow #SciInSciFi on twitter to for contest updates.
Dr. Joanne Budzien is an Assistant Professor of Physics at MacMurray College. Dr. Budzien's research is in materials science simulation and she has been at Frostburg State University, the New Mexico Institute of Mining and…
illconsidered | December 19, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 70
Table of Contents
Chapter 72
Chapter 71
Decision Point, February 23, 2059
At UNGETF things were getting worse. Our Earthside measures were not working. Methane and carbon dioxide levels were still rising. There were a lot of grim faces around.
I put those concerns aside and turned my attention to Matt's sunbugs. Matt's multimedia files required an advanced and expensive Fraunhoeffer chemical synthesizer which the university did not have. A quick web check showed why. They cost over 5 million credits. I began to appreciate how Matt's money…
illconsidered | December 11, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 69
Table of Contents
Chapter 71
Chapter 70
Sunbugs, February 12, 2058
We adjusted slowly to the changes in our household. It felt funny sleeping in dad's old bed. Edie didn't say a word when I got rid of the old mattress and rearranged the room. I think she understood perfectly. The guest room became Anna's new bedroom. She was proud to have her own room, until it came to sleeping alone. It was not unusual to wake up and find her curled up beside us.
My sex life with Olivia had been boisterous and exuberant. With Edie, love making was quieter…
illconsidered | December 4, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 68
Table of Contents
Chapter 70
Chapter 69
Engagement, February 1, 2059
As I walked home from the station, it started to snow --- a wet, big-flaked snow which seemed entirely appropriate. By the time I got home, I was soaked to the skin and shivering uncontrollably.
Edie took one look at me and said, "Jump into a hot shower. I'll get dry clothes for you."
Half an hour later, I was sitting on the couch, bundled up in a comforter, drinking hot toddy and feeling foolish. I started apologizing. "I didn't plan properly. I should have worn warmer…
illconsidered | November 27, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 67
Table of Contents
Chapter 69
Chapter 68
Estrangement, February 1, 2059
I hadn't seen Jon in the flesh for almost three years. I was shocked by how much he had changed. He was harder and smoother somehow, as if he had an invisible barrier just above his skin. Nothing stuck to him. At first I thought it was shock over Matt's death, but there was more to it than that. Jon drifted through the funeral like an alien. He talked, he laughed, he shared old stories, but it was all surface. There was a distance and a calculation in him that made me…
illconsidered | November 22, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 66
Table of Contents
Chapter 68
Chapter 67
The Body, January 18, 2059
I put off planning the funeral because I had no idea when Matt's body was going to arrive. Relations between the North and South American continents are not exactly smooth. You could say that, except for diplomatic and scientific contacts, they are defined by the wall across the ithmus below Mexico. I had to work through ConSec, and that meant Carman.
This was a difficult period for me. It was xmas and I was far from seasonally happy. My thoughts seemed always to come back…
carlyo | November 19, 2013By Stacy Jannis
Connecting bright young minds with the tools and techniques they need today is the first step towards developing our work force tomorrow. Businesses and government have issued a challenge to educators to help this next generation acquire the creative high-performance STEM skills they need to better transform the world. The evolution of learning technologies, combined with new frameworks for learning standards, will help equip and propel our students forward towards this goal.
So how could our "Science in Fiction" video contest help students practice and refine these much…
illconsidered | November 14, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 65
Table of Contents
Chapter 67
Chapter 66
Arrangements, December 11, 2058
Anna was mercifully asleep when I got home. When I told Edie about Matt, she was subdued. She put her hand to her mouth and sat down quickly. Then to my surprise, her attention shifted to me. She was concerned about me. I appreciated that, but I had another duty. To call Jon.
Matt's death hit Jon just as hard as it hit me. The braggadocio and oneupmanship were gone. We didn't talk long. I pointedly did not raise the issue of Matt's body and interment in order to give…
illconsidered | November 6, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 64
Table of Contents
Chapter 66
Chapter 65
Matthew Fontaine, December 11, 2058
Over the course of that summer and fall, the number of sunshades slowly increased. It became part of the weather report. "And today the sunshade count is ..." On clear days the sun was too bright, but on cloudy days the smudge on the side of the sun was easily discernible.
One morning in early December, I had the radio on during the usual rush to get ready and they mentioned a food riot in Brazil. As ususal I wondered if Matt were still in South America, but didn't…
illconsidered | October 31, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 63
Table of Contents
Chapter 65
Chapter 64
The Eclipse Machine, September 7, 2058
I woke up early from a bad dream. My father was talking about the animals of the north that were disappearing --- caribou, muskox and bears. Then I was a bearman breaking into a shack. Some guy was shooting at me. I woke up with a start, when a bullet hit me in the shoulder.
I lay in bed totally still --- listening. The house was quiet. The clock read 5:13 and there was no way I was going back to sleep. With a sigh I rolled out of bed and into the washroom.
It's…
illconsidered | October 23, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 62
Table of Contents
Chapter 64
The Atlas, August 16, 2058
When I got home today, the Electronic Atlas was sitting on the kitchen table. The Atlas was one of six prototype devices for a project a business buddy of Matt's had abandoned. It was a thin display surface half a meter square in the centre of which was a slowly rotating image of the Earth.
If you touched any part of the planet, it would get larger. You could flip through different views: topographical, political, meteorological, agricultural and so on. More detailed statistics on…
illconsidered | October 16, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 61
Table of Contents
Chapter 63
Chapter 62
Baumgarten, July 2, 2058
I got another late night call from Rhamaposa. He looked terrible --- shaken and drawn out.
"What happened to you?" I asked.
"I did a tour across the Sahel." He shook his head and shuddered.
"Oh."
He grimaced. "Starving cattle. Dead children. What a time to be in a dry country!"
"Where are you now?"
"Djibouti."
I looked at him in surprise. I wasn't aware that UNGETF had any official contact with the Caliphate.
"The Arab Democratic Union asked me to update them on our projects…
illconsidered | October 10, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 60
Table of Contents
Chapter 62
Chapter 61
Crystal Jellies, March 19, 2058
The first time I saw a telescopic view of the L1 sunshades, I remembered standing in an aquarium watching crystal jellyfish. These tiny, delicate creatures were so beautiful I could scarce believe such miracles existed. I was transported. For a second, I was back watching those fluttering pink mauve miracles, but I wasn't. It was a swarm of sunshades illuminated by brilliant sunlight. Here and there, the deep blue of an ion drive could be seen.
I thought of the…
illconsidered | October 2, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 59
Table of Contents
Chapter 61
Chapter 60
L1 Roustabouts, February 15, 2058
The L1 crew were not like the moon colonists. They were cowboys. We didn't get up-close and web-personal with them. The corporate imagery around them played up rugged individualism and avoided any mention of colonization. They were all young men, no women, no families. Anytime we saw them they were sparring, jousting and joking with each other in good natured bonhomie. Or acting like boy scouts. It was all completely phony.
Arguably what the L1 astronauts were doing…
illconsidered | September 26, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 58
Table of Contents
Chapter 60
Chapter 59
Asteroid Disaster January 27, 2058
Last week I got a late night call from Rhamaposa. He was stone cold sober and didn't waste time with preliminaries.
"We've lost contact with the Daedalus group."
"What happened?"
"We're not sure. We're waiting for the 24 hour summary."
Because of the distance and the danger involved, UNGETF had insisted on an automated video summary which would be transmitted by the computer every 24 hours. It was basically a compressed stop-frame video record. The algorithm tracked…
illconsidered | September 18, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 57
Table of Contents
Chapter 59
Chapter 58
Ecology 110 - Water Vapour, January 6, 2058
Occasionally I am caught flat-footed by questions from students. It is one of the hidden benefits of teaching --- being kept on your toes. Theories of education differ, but generally I aim for the broad middle band. I know there are some impatient, high percentile types who think my lectures slow and pedantic. Just as there is a segment of determined plodders who get through more by hard work than brainpower. Between them ranges the middle group who will…
illconsidered | September 13, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 56
Table of Contents
Chapter 58
Chapter 57
Moonchild, December 11, 2057
The moon consists primarily of iron, aluminum, silicon and manganese, with some calcium and oxygen. Some areas have concentrations of titanium. That was why the Hipparcus crater had been chosen.
Once the smelter was set up and they had full power, the mining began in earnest. It was all open pit. They used a large wheeled dragger to scoop up the material. They wanted aluminum and titanium. The lack of free oxygen on the moon made steel production problematic, but aluminum…
carlyo | September 13, 2013Now entering its third year, the Kavli Science Video contest, an international middle and high school student competition that is held as part of the USA Science & Engineering Festival, has announced "Science in Fiction" as the contest theme! The contest, sponsored by the Kavli Foundation, is designed to challenge students to investigate science through video storytelling while promoting participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects.
The new theme, "Science in Fiction" was inspired by the mission of the Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the…
illconsidered | September 5, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 55
Table of Contents
Chapter 57
Chapter 56
Petrov, October 19, 2057
The Daedalus reached Petrov in late September. On the internet a coterie of space enthusiasts and the climate concerned had followed their reports religiously, but until then there was little coverage in the corporate media. For twenty-four hours they were media stars again. The trip had been uneventful, which in the tech-besotted, bloodless language of the space agencies and corporations meant there were no major accidents and nobody died.
The asteroid was less than a…
illconsidered | August 28, 2013The Bottleneck Years
by H.E. Taylor
Chapter 54
Table of Contents
Chapter 56
Chapter 55
Spacemen, September 11, 2057
From my vantage point in UNGETF, I was able to monitor the activities of the various groups. All year, I heard about rocket launches, mostly by the Swiss-German consortium Brahmaputra, but the odd one was by the L1 construction group Carillon. The Group 6 cloudmakers had their first batch of ships sailing for Antarctica. More of the old tankers were being refurbished weekly. The target number of vessels for north and south had been raised to 600. Sometimes when things don…