Science in Fiction

One of the most amazing things in life is science. it helps us to understand the world around us. with it we can determine so many things. Physics, engineering, math, biology, chemistry, and computers, all of these are a part of it. I studied Biology in school at CSU working to become a vet. as a consequence of the major I had to take physics and chemistry courses. while chemistry felt like the biggest snooze fest in the world it taught me so much about how the world interacts on a subatomic level and the puzzle aspect of it was fascinating. on the other had, physics was the real life application of math, and since i loved math physics was a blast.

But it was the biology courses that really stuck with me the most. learning how animals evolved into what they are. going from a single strand of RNA into full scale organisms. creatures now uses their DNA to adapt to their environment. these adaptations led to amazing features. did you know that there are animals who have the ability to take in plant based organisms and use their photo synthesis process to create their own food, or bioluminescent bacteria to make themselves light up. plants communicate through chemicals to warn other plants that they are being attacked by a predator. the lyrebird can imitate any noise it hears and uses it to attract mates. Here’s a video to give you an example of this astounding trait.

When I started writing my book, I wanted to make the universe as amazing as possible using what we know about life and the universe. the closer I could get my book to being realistic the better. After reading The Martian I knew it not only made for a better read, but was possible for someone who wasn’t an author by profession. while it seems like this limits things, I found it to actually open up a whole new world to explore. I could make fascinating creatures using features we know can appear through evolution. I even got to imagine a ship that could use centrifugal force to create enough force to produce gravity in space. Oh and Don’t forget that being in space has you in a constant free fall. this means your stomach always feels like it’s in your chest. getting to imagine my characters dealing with these feelings, and what life would be like. there is just so much to explore, that even without space battles I was able to create an amazing universe.