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In science fiction, everybody's always running and flying and questing, and time is always running out. So that makes those occasions when our space heroes and future warriors take the time to kick back and relax in a bar that much more alluring. There's nothing like a tall cold one when you're fighting the Dark Side. More »
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Brownian motion was one of the many things explained by Einstein. It's the seemingly random 'jiggling' of particles caused by atoms hitting them. Under some circumstances, though, it's not so random. Find out about the strange patterns of Brownian motion, and how physicists have observed them for the first time. More »
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We've all heard of The Klingon Hamlet, a real book that contains a Klingon translation of the text side-by-side with the English version. Some of us have even been . . . let's say 'lucky' enough to see it performed. But what other famous works would be better rendered in science fictional languages? We've got some suggestions. More »
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Finally, a reason to own an iPad. They've created an app that lets you access the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, that most indispensible resource, via your iOs device. It's basically an interactive edition of Douglas Adams' masterwork. More »
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When NPR revealed its list of finalists for its "Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy Books" survey, we were struck by how diverse and wide-ranging that list was. Now the actual list of the 100 greatest books has been revealed... and it's quite a bit more conservative. More »
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Recreating Douglas Adams' unique, bizarre humor is like catching cosmic rays in a bottle — messy, breathless, and likely to cost you a few fingers. So let's all celebrate the Dirk Gently pilot's success in some highly improbable comedy. Spoilers... More »
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Yesterday was 42-day, the day when we ponder the meaning of Life, The Universe, and Everything. But Vancouver is still celebrating Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy: the book is Vancouver's "One Book One Vancouver" pick, causing some controversy. More »
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Sometimes, the strange foods in speculative fiction can make your mouth water. These delicious, fantastical items seem so good, you wish you could take a bite. Here are some of our most-wanted fictional snacks. More »
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It's the ultimate loss - the destruction of your entire planet, and science fiction is full of characters who have had to live through this unimaginable tragedy. Warning! At least one truly massive spoiler ahead... More »
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Planet Earth might be home sweet home, but is it really humanity's birthplace? We explore science fiction stories where humans come from everywhere but Earth, be it by colonization, alien experiments, or good old-fashioned panspermia. More »
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If there's one thing that science fiction has taught us, it's that it's almost a certainty that Earth will be invaded by an alien force at some point in our lifetime. Luckily, we've also learned that humanity will most likely forget our differences, pull together and defeat said alien force through unity, the resourcefulness of an under-appreciated member of society and potentially the common cold, but that doesn't change the fact that - as GI Joe would tell us - knowing is half the battle. So we present to you a guide to the different types of alien invasion, so that you can know whether to join the fight or betray us all to your potential new alien overlords. More »
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The other day we told you about the artwork created specifically for an online version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game that was created for the new BBC editions of the Hitchhiker's radio drama that came out a few years ago. This image, featuring a cartoony version of the Vogon Captain's quarters, was part of a set created for the same game. More »
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If you haven't seen the BBC television version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, then you need to get off your lazy duff and give it a whirl. It's extremely different from the movie version, and much closer to the novels and radio drama. Probably the best thing about it is the Guide itself, complete with amazing 2D animations depicting whatever the book is droning on about. Like the spaceship Heart of Gold, pictured here. Check out the glorious old school animation style that makes up the Bambleweeny 57 sub-meson Brain, which powers the Infinite Improbability Drive. More »
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In Star Wars and Star Trek, the main way to get around the galaxy is to use warp speed or flip on your hyperdrive, which is a bit like hitting the gas pedal as hard as you can so you'll get there a bit quicker. There's more science to it than that, involving subspace fields and hyperspace and all that jazz, but the end result is that you're traveling very quickly. But besides speed, what other faster than light alternatives are there? Check out our list of other ways to get there in scifi. More »
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According to 1950s newsreels, the wonders of our age are supposed to include a dream kitchen that uses ultrasonic waves to clean our plates, automatically cooks our food for us and does all the shopping. But so far, all the best kitchen toys are still in science fiction. Check out our roundup of gadgets from the kitchens of the future that we want to see in our homes today. More »
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Before video games were blasting you into 80 billion megapixels with enough raw processing power to send a human to Jupiter and back, they used to exist as mere words on the screen. Much like audiobooks, text adventure games exist halfway between reading and watching a movie. In the heyday of text games, Infocom quickly became a leader, pumping out the best games in the genre (which they called "interactive fiction") from 1979 until 1986, when Activision bought them. We still love them, and you will too. We've made a list of Infocom's best science fiction text adventure games below the fold. More »
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Audiences have been laughing at science fiction since it was conceived, but usually for all the wrong reasons. It wasn't until television became popular that producers decided to get in on the joke and start making comedies about science fiction — and those early shows gave birth to everything from films like The Three Stooges in Orbit to countless episodes of 3rd Rock From The Sun. There have been a lot of comedy scifi misses, but check our list of hits after the jump. More »
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