Author Archives: Mika

Physics Today

Posted on 2 May 2011 by Mika

Points of View, the Physics Today section for unusual jobs in science, is currently featuring my piece on working as a science consultant for Stargate: Putting the science in science fiction

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Supervolcano

Posted on 21 April 2011 by Mika

I haven’t watched Supervolcano, but Erik Klemetti wrote up some science-centric thoughts on the docudrama.

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Alien Lifeforms

Posted on 23 March 2011 by Mika

The How-To guide to Alien Life over on io9 is lovely.

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The Tsunami of “Deep Impact”

Posted on 23 March 2011 by Mika

At the AGU 2010 Fall meeting, the Science & Entertainment Exchange hosted a panel on Hollywood science. On it, screenwriter for Deep Impact, Bruce Joel Rubin, revealed that he got a bit carried away doing science research while writing. For … Continue reading →

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The Tsunami of Hawaii Five-0 “Kai e’e”

Posted on 8 February 2011 by Mika

I am in no way affiliated with Hawaii Five-0, but as a disaster specialist and instructor of a university course on tsunami, I can’t refrain from commenting on season 1, episode 15: “Kai e’e”, where the science of tsunami and … Continue reading →

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Disclaimers for Fiction

Posted on 14 January 2011 by Mika

As an episode or movie closes and the credits roll, one day I’d love to see one last warning at the end: No scientific ideas were seriously harmed in the making of this story.

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Scifi in Nature

Posted on 5 January 2011 by Mika

Nature, yes, that Nature of scientific paper publishing prestige, has opened public access to its archive of science fiction stories. I’m adding them to my collection of hard scifi short stories; anyone have any favourites or specific recommendations?

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Ethics of Stargate: Universe “Air”

Posted on 3 January 2011 by Mika

Dr. Rush, the lead scientist in Stargate: Universe, is a character who embodies a non-standard moral stance compared to the usual characters in Stargate. The following observations on ethics and morals are used considering the initial character only, how he … Continue reading →

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Stargate: From Fiction to Science

Posted on 2 January 2011 by Mika

I’ve written before on the value of using good science in works of fiction; the Stargate franchise embraced this philosophy and I worked as their science consultant for several seasons. I’ve been asked why Stargate cared about having detailed, plausible … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Science, Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate: Universe, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: The Physics of Christmas

Posted on 24 December 2010 by Mika

If you’re looking for a holiday-themed “The Science of…” book, I thought “The Physics of Christmas” was pretty good.

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