Articles about Fiction Science

Illustration: Male and female astronauts floating toward a Valentine's Day heart in space

Sex in space? Find out how science weighs the pluses and minuses on Valentine’s Day

You might think sex in space would be an out-of-this-world experience — but based on the scientific evidence so far,… Read More

Will our AI creations ultimately achieve personhood? Here’s how it could happen

Some say artificial intelligence will be humanity’s greatest helper. Others warn that AI will become humanity’s most dangerous rival. But maybe there’s… Read More

Illustration: A stream of words about disinformation superimposed on image of a hand holding a mobile device

How to track what’s true as the AI war over disinformation in politics builds to a climax

Artificial intelligence is fueling an arms race between the purveyors of disinformation and those who are fighting it in this… Read More

Illustration: Teenage Mars inhabitant in space helmet

Artificial intelligence is going full circle — from fiction to science, and back again

Artificial intelligence has had an effect on nearly every facet of modern life — ranging from diagnosing diseases, to applying for a… Read More

Portrait of Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham

What if the aliens win? That’s the subject of a new saga from creators of ‘The Expanse’

In nearly all alien-invasion tales, the puny humans somehow find a way to win — for example, in classic novels… Read More

Allen Institute’s OpenScope team stirs up a brainstorm to study the mind’s mysteries

The Allen Institute’s OpenScope program lets scientists study the weird workings of the brain — for instance, how magic mushrooms work their… Read More

How Seattle science-fiction pioneer Vonda N. McIntyre blazed a trail for diversity

Decades before the current debates over gender and sexuality, the late Seattle science-fiction writer Vonda N. McIntyre flipped the script… Read More

Scene from "The Boys in the Boat" showing UW athletes rowing

How rowing has changed since ‘The Boys in the Boat’ — and how it’s stayed the same

Thanks to tectonic shifts in technology and training, Olympic-level rowing has come a long way since the University of Washington’s… Read More

Could AI become conscious? Physicists and neuroscientists search for answers

Will artificial intelligence serve humanity — or will it spawn a new species of conscious digital beings with their own… Read More

Get an AI reality check on ‘The Creator’ — Hollywood’s latest robo-doomsday movie

Over the next 50 years, will humanity become too attached to the artificial-intelligence agents that dictate the course of our… Read More

Dr. Evil, Mr. Bigglesworth and "Starter Villain" cat

‘Starter Villain’: Sci-fi supervillain tale aims a satirical laser at tech billionaires

There’s nary a mention of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates in “Starter Villain,” but science-fiction author John Scalzi’s wickedly funny… Read More

Maury Island Incident mural in Des Moines, Wash.

Maury Island Incident and ‘Men in Black’ stories become a cause for celebration

Even the Men in Black need their day in the sun. And they’re getting it this week, in the place… Read More

Illustration with 17th-century view of solar system blending into quantum hardware

How quantum computing could transform everything everywhere, but not all at once

What does quantum computing have in common with the Oscar-winning movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once”? One is a mind-blowing… Read More

The latest 007 saga has a space billionaire, quantum computers — but no James Bond

Imagine a James Bond story with quantum computers, brain-computer interfaces, a cloud-shifting climate control system and a billionaire who owns… Read More

"Critical Mass" book cover illustration showing space station beyond moon

Fictional plans for building a space station beyond the moon reflect Jeff Bezos’ vision

If Jeff Bezos needs a blueprint for building a space station beyond the moon with ore from an asteroid, he… Read More

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania / Quantum

Get a reality check on quantum computing vs. ‘Quantumania’ in Marvel’s latest movie

Ant-Man may be getting small in Marvel’s latest superhero movie — but in the real world, quantum is getting big.… Read More

Science fiction focuses on the far future of terraforming, with a tie-in to today’s cities

Billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos dream of making Mars more like Earth, or seeing millions of people… Read More

Illustration: Man with virtual world in hand

Sci-fi author and scientist team up to write a novel about consciousness and quantum weirdness

Do we each create our own reality? Could different observers create measurably different realities? It’s a fantastical line of thought… Read More

Amazon’s ‘Peripheral’ brings cyberpunk prophet William Gibson’s vision up to date

The future may not be evenly distributed, but there’s a dystopia-inducing concentration of it in “The Peripheral,” a science-fiction novel by cyberpunk… Read More