7 Great Sci-Fi Shows to Watch...For The Science!!

Those of us who have suffered through a “Syfy Original Movie” are a unique kind of people. You don’t sit down and watch a film like “Sharknado” because you think it’s going to be good, actually you watch it because you know it’s going to be bad. But it’s still Science Fiction. And to a science fiction geek that means something.

But not all Sci-Fi has to be bad. Actually there are quite a few examples of incredible works of science fiction all over. Ever since man could imagine the stars he has written of alien worlds. Ever since the invention of the video camera and moving pictures we have been enthralled with transcribing those words into visible actions. Some of those, like Sharknado, are terrible failures at this transcription, while others, like Dr. Who and his Tardis for instance, boldly capture our imaginations and sense of wonder with fantastic scripting and memorable characters and events.

While we can’t travel through time and alternate dimensions like Tardis, or gather up strange and unique “artifacts” with mystical powers like the agents of Warehouse 13, there are examples of television Sci-Fi that has been grounded in reality. Here are seven shows that blur the lines sometimes between fact and fiction, where we are now, and how far away these dreamt up Orwellian futures are.

1.  The Big Bang Theory

On September 24^th, 2007 nobody could have predicted the show that was going to sweep the nation by storm in the coming years. From Chuck Lorre, the man who created Fox TV’s giant hit “Two and a Half Men”, out of left field came “The Big Bang Theory” starring the socially awkward Physicist duo Sheldon Cooper and Leonard Hofstadr, played by the hilarious Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons. But what made this show unique wasn’t the comedy, it was the science.

Early on its career as a sitcom “The Big Bang Theory” often had a tendency to take mainstream scientific ideas and translate them into a mainstream comedic format. This was digestible to those of us who don’t have 7 years of college and a theoretical physics doctorate under our belts. By blending the science in with humor they developed a program that was not only knee slapping hilarious but educational in its own right.

“The Big Bang Theory” is in its 7^th season now and shows no signs of slowing down in its humor, charm, or scientific wit. While it’s not technically Science Fiction it is fiction about science. (See what I did there?) If you haven’t seen the show before I highly recommend it, whether you’re into science or not, it’s just downright funny. “The Big Bang Theory” is on CBS.

2.  Almost Human

“Almost Human” exploded onto Fox this year in 2013 with its delightful cast, quirky characters, and white knuckle action. But what’s absolutely incredible about this show? You guessed it, the science and the technology. Here’s the premise, as supplied by TV.com:

“The year is 2048, and the streets are as mean as ever. Fortunately, the police have a new tool in their arsenal- Synthetics, robots who are tasked with assuring the safety of the humans who created them. But not everyone is pleased with the changes. Detective John Kennex, who has been wounded in action, returns to the force and learns that his new partner is a Synthetic named Dorian. Dorian's programming is much more advanced than that of the normal Synthetic, making him seem almost human, but John still mistrusts the machine at his side. Can they work together as a team?”

Sounds like your cookie cutter Sci-Fi drama right? It’s not the plot that shines in this show. It’s as I said, the technology. Dorian, John’s synthetic android partner, seems to feel, unlike the newer models of androids the cops have come to rely on. He has complex thought processes that simulate human emotions. In a sense, Dorian can feel things, which is the kind of thing we need to accomplish in order to create the Singularity, or in other words, Artificial Intelligence.

It tackles futuristic social issues, like harvesting skin from live human in order to cultivate it and place it on “sex-bots” (we can make fake skin now, and the Japanese really do have highly advanced Sex Bots that are available online – I really wish I was kidding about that). Addicted drugs made from chemotrophic organisms (sounds like what Pfizer’s and Monsanto have been doing…) even extreme advances in the world of prosthesis.

If “FOX” can keep from murdering this piece of Sci-Fi gold like they did with “Firefly” then viewers can be enjoying a dramatic glimpse into the future of mad science for years to come. If not, it’ll be one to buy on Blu-Ray for sure, because this is as close to where technology is leading us as Hollywood can perceive.

3.  Defiance

On a network known for its science fiction, SyFy has a history of making original movies that have carried the stigma of  beinbad. However, in recent years, with the addition of some brilliant writing talent and what seems to be higher budgets, the universal geek network has churned out some incredible television programs. (It’s original movies still continue to be awful) One of those gems, is “Defiance”.

Set on Earth in the distant future, the basic premise is we have been invaded by aliens. Because our atmosphere was set to human and not xenophile they had to terraform our planet to their needs. Well, you know humans, a riotous angry bunch we are. We took to fighting back against our alien overlords and eventually destroyed the machines that were changing our environment.

But we didn’t destroy them soon enough.

Now our world has been transformed into a strange new place full of the miracle of life at its finest. Aside from the fact that evolution probably wouldn’t transpire fast enough to give us some of the bizarre creatures we see in the show, it’s quite an expose into what happen when you attempt to alter the ecosystem of an area. In short, undesirable results.

The show however is quite desirable and will be returning soon to dazzle us with its biological wonders again. You can catch Nolan and his adopted alien daughter Irisa on SyFy, along with this next amazing program called “Continuum.”

4.  Continuum

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“Continuum” is a show that isn’t afraid to push boundaries and sensitivities. The first season starts with a bang. That little orb she’s holding in the picture above?  It’s actually a time travel device, used by terrorists in 2077 to go back in time to 2012 and incite a war against the corporations. Blurring fringe science with cutting edge computer generated graphics (and a PHENOMENAL acting cast) turned out to be a brilliant combination for this SyFy original.

So I mentioned the science right? Keira, the main character who is actually a future cop so to speak, goes back in time with the terrorists to stop them. But she isn’t completely unarmed. She has her suit. With current developments in metamaterials and nano-fluids the cloaking abilities, ballistics protection, even the electrical shocks she can generate from it are possible.

In short this is a show to pick up the first couple seasons of and watch. If not for the science and the wonderful twisting and turning plot, how about the fact that Keira is absolutely gorgeous! ‘Nuff said.

You can catch “Continuum” on SyFy networks.

5.  Eureka

Even though “Eureka” is no longer on the air I felt it deserved a special spot on this list. It’s a story about the world’s smartest little town. See the Department of Defense likes its toys, but it also doesn’t like the world to know about its toys. The solution? Take the worlds geniuses and put them all in one place. The result? The town of Eureka, where the science is always cutting edge and the problems are always catastrophic.

Enter U.S. Marshall, Carter. While transporting a criminal that we come to find out is his teenage daughter he accidentally ends up in Eureka. After saving the town he becomes the new Sherriff. (Everyone loves a hero) From there the science takes over.

From creating wormholes in the middle of town to time traveling devices that take the residents back to Eastern Europe in the 40’s the laughs and the wonder were always delightful. The one really unique thing about Eureka? The science was real. The highly advanced technology they created from this science may not have been but the reality is some of the best inventions were created from the minds of Science Fiction writers ahead of their time.

Anyone who argues that has clearly never heard of Jules Verne.

6.  Mythbusters

While “Mythbusters” is technically not a Sci-Fi program it is hosted by two Hollywood special effects artists who have science fiction backgrounds. However it isn’t the premise of this show that land it here on this Top 7 list, it’s the science. Taking common misconceptions about the way the world works and breaking down our comfort in our intellect is what these guys specialize in.

Since 2003 Jaime and Adam and the rest of the team have tackled such questions like “Is it possible to actually hit the ground running?” or “Can any Sonic Boom really break glass?”. Busted or confirmed it’s always been exciting to watch the gang go to work, putting the scientific method through its paces while they design intricate experiments.

With their backgrounds and degrees in engineering and design it’s not surprising how intelligently these two devise their plans. “Mythbusters” has been on the air on “Discovery Channel” since 2003 and has enjoyed over 200 episodes.We have enjoyed 200 episodes with you too Kari Byron…I mean…Mythbusters team…

7.  Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t put this on the list because of the science on the show. I put it on here because anyone who knows me knows that I’m a huge Joss Whedon fan. On top of that I’m a massive Marvel geek (yes I have many, many comics. Surprise, surprise, a nerd with a comic obsession…) so anything Marvel related is automatically on my radar.

At first I had my reservations about a show that wouldn’t be containing any superheroes in a universe that’s lifeblood is dependent on Gamma radiated monsters and WWII super soldiers. However, after watching what the first season has given us so far I’m convinced, this show isn’t just worth watch, it’s the window into the marvel universe between blockbuster films nerds everywhere have always craved.

With a stellar cast, excellent writing staff, and the brilliant minds of Joss Whedon and Stan Lee behind the wheel, “Marvel’s: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D” on “ABC” networks Tuesday nights at eight should have a good run. Which is incredible news for me, considering a hole has been left in my heart since the cancellation of “Firefly” (Yes…I lost a piece of myself that day…)

So there you have it. A full roster of sci-fi shows for you to catch up on! As always guys thanks for reading!

-       Ryan Sanders

This article is based solely on the opinions and beliefs of the author and in no way reflects those any of the aforementioned Corporations or their Affiliates. 

Wake Up Chief...MJOLNIR's Parts Are In Motion

Any science fiction nerd out there has played (or at least heard of) the “Halo: Combat Evolved” series created by game developer Bungie in 2000. The video game took the first person shooter world by storm, quickly becoming one of the most beloved franchises in the community, spawning several sequels, spin-offs, and millions of dollars in merchandising apparel. Master Chief is a fictional icon of hulking super soldier badassery. But are we actually closer to our very own Master Chief’s now than the game’s 2550 timeline? Like we did with Iron Man a few weeks ago, let’s see if we can’t separate fact from fiction here. We’ll start with the obvious ones first.

Cortana…Artificial Intelligence

If will could make it so than millions of fan-boys worldwide would have already brought Cortana into constitution. Alas, it doesn’t work like that. How it does work is teams of scientists all over the world are working on the Singularity. One such man, Ross D. King, professor of computer science at Aberystwyth University, has created something fairly close to artificial intelligence. His name is Adam. What makes Adam special and separates him from other computers? His ability to think like a human scientist.

Adam is able to throw together a hypothesis, but it doesn't just stop there, using reasoning and all the information available to him he is able to create experiments to test these hypotheses. What’s even more incredible, are the results, “To say that Adam just possesses information and processes it would be a vast understatement. Adam is able to use logic statements to represent the knowledge it has acquired. It then rationalizes and channelizes these interactions with the physical world. “Adam generated and experimentally confirmed 20 hypotheses about which genes encode specific enzymes in yeast. Like all scientific claims, Adam’s needed to be confirmed. We therefore checked Adam’s conclusions using other sources of information not available to it and using new experiments we did with our own hands. We determined that seven of Adam’s conclusions were already known, one appeared wrong and 12 were novel to science.”” -

Now does that mean Adam is capable of hacking into an alien ship while monitoring the vitals of Spartan John 117, while stealing information and analyzing data from hundreds of computers on a planet simultaneously…more than likely not. Honestly we are still a long way off from an A.I. capable of that kind of function, but Adam is proof that we’re officially on the right track to simulating human reasoning.

Shields Up Spartans!

Who can forget hopping online in the Saturday afternoon to play your buddies across the pond in a friendly match of Free-For-All? After almost getting stuck with the plasma grenade and narrowly escaping death several times you have to jump behind a big rock. You switch to your pistol and stare down the scope as you wait for your shield to recharge so you can run back into the fray, a portable med-kit randomly laying on the ground nearby wouldn’t hurt either.

The med-kit is neither here nor there, the shield however, is what we’re going to discuss next.

The image above is from T.A.Heppenheimer’s book “Colonies in Space.” What you are looking at folks is a proposed plasma shield to block the cosmic radiation from reaching the colonists and causing ill advisable health effects. Wonderful thought, however it was written in 1977 originally, we barely understood how electrons acted in space, and under conditions not that of Earth’s. The book, while delightful, to me seems more Science Fiction than Science Fact, but isn’t that what we’re doing here? Separating fact from fiction?

Truth is, from that quirky design above we have come full circle. Turns out, in development is a piece of technology called PASS (PlasmaAcoustic Shield System) and what it does it utterly incredible. Using lasers it sends out a series of plasma explosions to detonate or deflect incoming projectiles from hitting the user. This sounds different from MJOLNIR but it should because right NOW it isn’t the same, but once again, it is certainly a step in the right direction.

And try not confuse PASS with the overhyped Trophy “Force Field” developed by Israel. You can read more about that blunder here… http://defensetech.org/2006/04/27/so-much-for-force-fields/

Systems Breakdown (All The Working Parts)

According to what I understand of the Halo fiction, aside from biological engineering for the soldiers and the two topics we discussed above, there are several other key components of the MJOLNIR armor. Those are:

1.    The HUD (Heads Up Display)

2.    Secondary ballistics protection

3.    Insulation, Cooling, Biometric Scanners (For vital signs)

4.    Increased mobilization and movement assistance through the suit.

We are working on Heads Up Displays, and are actually pretty far along with the technology. If you want to know more about their functionality in aircraft and on the smaller scale of soldiers in combat, Wikipedia has an excellent page with a wealth of information dedicated to the HUD. For the purposes of this blog we’ll just say it’s where it needs to be and Revision, a military development company, is working on a modular helmet that will incorporate the technology, and it could not look more reminiscent to the Chief himself:

What about secondary ballistics protection? (Aside from his plasma shield of course) I mean…nobody can take a bullet like a Spartan right?? Right??? Well, not necessarily. Turns out a few years back there was a big debacle with the U.S. military and its troops using body armor bought from civilian manufacturers and not Uncle Sam himself. TheDragon Skin armor, as seen in the video if you follow the link, is capable of not only withstanding a ton of gunfire, but after that, if the need arises, a soldier can jump on top of a live grenade. He’ll still most likely die from internal organ damage, but it sure won’t be because the grenade ripped through his Kevlar and cut him in half.

But we can’t have a soldier jumping on a grenade to save his squad and still die, that doesn’t seem right, and America isn’t known for supporting its martyrs. So how do we shield the body, beneath the shield and the super armor? There are two ways to reinforce the Kevlar, Shear-Thickening Fluid or Magnetorheological Fluid. Let’s explore both of these a little bit.

1.    Shear-Thickening Fluid: STF behaves like a liquid until it is struck forcefully. At which points all the molecules in it quickly bind together forming an almost impermeable solid barrier. This colloid (cornstarch & water behave similarly) creates a lightweight alternative to the many layers typically needed in a Kevlar vest.

2.    Magnetorheological Fluid: Like STF this behaves like a liquid that turns into a solid as well but the similarities end there. MF is comprised of oil and iron particles that rely on an electric current in order to ender solid-state.

Both are very different solutions to the same problems and neither are without their drawbacks. You can read more about both and a lot more about LBA over at How Stuff Works with their wonderfully written article about it.

We have biometric scanners (EKG, pulse monitors, etc.) and we even have scaled down ones that would be perfect for this suit. Obviously cooling fans and insulation have come a long way in the past thirty years with computers becoming smaller scale and much more efficient that these wouldn’t even be an issue. But what about the exoskeleton that made the Master Chief move superfast? That made him super strong? What about that stuff!?  

Calm down before you have a nerdgasm. I have some really great news for you. As usual the Japanese have developed some truly amazing technology. The latest advancement in assisted living is HAL (Hybrid Assisted Limb). HAL is an exoskeleton powered by the user’s nerve function that has been granted the prestige of being recognized as a fully-fledged medical device. Take a look at HAL below:

And it’s not just for paraplegics and medical uses. There are reports of the Japanese using modified HAL suits to clean up after the tragic Fukushima nuclear reactor spill. They may not grant the user the super strength of John 117 himself, but that isn’t the intention of these particular suits, but once again, it is a step in the right direction.

I’m sure there are other components I’m missing that go into the MJOLNIR Mark V armor but what it’s important is that the core technology is coming along. Right now if all these devices and individual pieces of tech were combined into one super suit the end result with be bulky, cumbersome, and most likely unusable. But who knows, in ten years since the release of Halo (which by and far was likely not the developers intentions of these gizmos) we have come this far along. Maybe in another ten years we’ll have this stuff scaled down, and maybe even our own personal Cortana’s! I would certainly love to report on that.

You’re dismissed Spartan.

-Ryan Sanders

The Armored Avenger...Comic Books To Reality?

        We all know Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr.'s incredible portrayal of him on the silver screen but Iron Man has been around alot longer than his recent 2000 blockbuster debut. Iron Man came about in the era of comic book heroes, billionaire Tony Stark was delivered to the world in March 1963. Ever since that day, nerds everywhere have at one time or another had the debate of would it be possible to have a real Iron Man suit? Well it may not be exactly like the superhero philanthropist's artificial intelligence powered armored flight suit but we have something in development fairly close to it now.
        Before we get to the suit itself lets talk about the Armored Avenger's cool toys. Besides flight and bulletproof armor Iron Man has his trademark Repulsor Rays housed in his breastplate and his gauntlets. Now on a small scale like that it isn't possible yet but the Marvel Wiki describes the rays as "Muon beams" which are plenty real. They're subatomic particles that function like electrons and neutrinos and can be focused into particle beams. The DoD has actually considered making a particle beam at one point but the enormous amount of energy required to power it made it too impractical.
        How about the rockets and tracking and the artificial intelligence and...and...woah, woah, slow down now. We have guns that shoot around corners and scopes that see through walls. I'm sure we have miniaturized laser-guided rockets that could theoretically be implemented into a fully functional Iron Man suit. As for Jarvis? While A.I. research is underway all signs point to us being decades from the kind of tech found in his suit and lab's brilliant computer program.
        But what about the suit? I said the suit might be real right? Well it is...sort of. It's not nearly as advanced as Mr. Stark's [But his fictional capital is more than most foreign nations, he has more resources ;) ]

       Control your nerdgasm's people. And I don't want to get your hopes up too high but I have read that these may become commercially available (for a steep, steep price of course). The suit probably won't break atmosphere and be able to put you up against the likes of Norse Gods and alien hordes, but it will have rocket boots, yaw, pitch, and roll. You don't need much more than that folks to live out your fantasy. If you want to read more about this amazing suit head over to the website From Quarks To Quasars and check out the full article by clicking the link.
       So there you go guys. Maybe someday I'll be able to report that becoming a New York City webslinger or a WWII time traveling super soldier is possible but those two are probably a little more unlikely. Who knows though? This world's a crazy awesome place sometimes. :)

-Ryan Sanders