"District 9" Takes a Lesson From Tesla
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Director Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi film, District 9, is getting rave reviews for its gritty, hard-edged depiction of a futuristic world where stranded aliens are being evicted from one dismal slum and forced to move to another — when all they really want is to get the mother ship back up…
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Claw of Newt
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One of the more compelling X-Men is Logan, a.k.a., Wolverine — so much a fan favorite that he merited his own “origins” story earlier this year with Wolverine. He’s the one who had adamantium grafted onto his entire exoskeleton as part of a military experiment, surviving the procedure because his…
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For All Time
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The film adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, hits theaters this weekend. For those unfamiliar with the premise, it concerns a Chicago librarian named Harry (Eric Bana) who suffers from a rare genetic disorder that causes him to live on a constantly shifting timeline, shuttling back…
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Home Smart Home
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Fans of SyFy’s Eureka are already familiar with the “character” of S.A.R.A.H. (Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat), a literal “smart house” build inside an abandoned fallout shelter that serves as the residence of Sheriff Jack Carter. S.A.R.A.H. is an AI that can open and close the hermetically sealed doors, control…
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Addicted to LOST's "Teaching Moments"
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For years, I resisted watching the TV series LOST. My friends loved it, assuring me that once I started watching the show, I wouldn’t be able to stop. So it seemed a good idea not to start. But then the Science & Entertainment Exchange matched the producers of the DVD…
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The Zombies Are Coming!
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Zombies are all the rage these days, what with the bestselling Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; the pending release of Zombieland;and news that Max Brook’s sci-fi classic, World War Z, is bound for the silver screen. But maybe it’s time to call a halt to this never-ending battle with the…
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Science Fiction Covers the Universe, And Also Our Own Little Globe
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Ever notice how often the alien spaceship lands in Washington, DC, or New York City rather than Paris, Beijing, or Rio de Janeiro? Since the big science-fiction blockbusters are Hollywood products, it’s not surprising that these films are U.S.-centric and it’s also true that Washington and New York are major…
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G-Force: The Unauthorized Biography
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With G-Force entering the market this week, an underdog to supplant the mighty Harry Potter, we at The Exchange immediately thought, “There’s no science here.” Then, we realized that in the scientific community guinea pigs have a special history, a centuries-old relationship. It’s a little known tale of love, loss,…
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Professor Zombie
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In the last decade, there has been a resurgence in mainstream Hollywood of zombie projects. Notably, Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later (as a franchise), Resident Evil (as a franchise), I Am Legend, Quarantine, Shaun of the Dead, as well as the upcoming films Zombieland, World War Z, and …
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Driving Rocket Ships and Talking with Our Minds
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This week marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing on July 19, 1969, and there has been a predictable flurry of reporting about the event. The New York Times asked me and a few others to recall our memories of the 1969 events, in which I recalled…
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