The making of Threads, the nuclear war film that shocked a generation. By Jude Rogers.

Edward L. Cahn

It's been 20 years since director Alex Proyas unleashed his science fiction masterpiece, and we're celebrating this Dark City anniversary in style. Let's take a look at why this brilliant movie has stood the test of time.

In 1984, two men were thinking a lot about the Internet. One of them invented it. The other is an artist who would see its impact on society with uncanny prescience. First is the man often called "the father of the Internet," Vint Cerf. Between the early 1970s and early '80s, he led a team of scientists supported by research from the Defense Department.

Local man Jeremy Land reportedly voiced his preference... [Satire]

David Bowie

“Even though, then, the Existentialists have experienced absurdity, the senselessness of human existence, they essentially end up affirming the perpetuity of the human subject, which is exactly what the experience of absurdity, being one of evanescence, denies.” By Timofei Gerber.

Even though it's only January, we're calling it now: Starz's Counterpart is one of the best television series of 2018. Despite being set in the present, Counterpart has a Cold War vibe that chills to the bone, and its spy-jinx are so subtle that the plot doesn't happen as much as creep up on you. It's just plain terrific. WARNING! Spoilers for the first episode of Counterpart lurk in the shadows below!

When cosplayers dress up as their favorite character, or even their interpretation of a favorite character, they're not just expressing their fandom. They're also carrying on a tradition that began with ... well, the first iterations of fan conventions.

Acoustic tractor beams use the power of sound to hold particles in mid-air, and unlike magnetic levitation, they can grab most solids or liquids. For the first time University of Bristol engineers have shown it is possible to stably trap objects larger than the wavelength of sound in an acoustic tractor beam. This discovery opens the door to the manipulation of drug capsules or micro-surgical implements within the body. Container-less transportation of delicate larger samples is now also a possibility and could lead to levitating humans.

Ms. Le Guin brought literary elegance and a feminist sensibility to science fiction and fantasy tales, drawing millions of readers around the world.

We live in Philip K. Dick’s future, not George Orwell’s or Aldous Huxley’s. By Henry Farrell.

Hold your team’s would-be hero in check, and other practical lessons for managers.

Though Wells and Orwell were debating in the era of Nazism, many of their arguments reverberate today in contemporary debates over science and policy. By Richard Gunderman.

How can we explain the ongoing mass appeal of Star Wars? Of course they are great action films, and of course the sci-fi elements of aliens, lightsabers and intergalactic travel spark our imagination. But what really distinguishes Star Wars from its rivals are its mythical themes. We have the perennial fight between good and evil, the saga of the David versus Goliath fight between the plucky rebels and the powerful evil empire. And most unusually for a sci-fi action film we have a prominent role for religion.

At some point, most science fiction readers come across the “Big Three” authors from its so-called Golden Age: Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke. Over the course of his lifetime, Clarke witnessed the birth of the space age, and helped push science fiction from a nascent literary movement into a modern vision for humanity’s future with grounded, realistic stories that drew on science and technology—themes that are more relevant than ever today, on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

You're sifting through the aisles of your local dollar store, and your eyes light upon a LEGO Millennium Falcon—and at a price so low that all Star Wars toy aficionados can afford it, no matter their financial situation. But when you look closely, you notice something is a little... off. Instead of the familiar Star Wars logo, instead it reads... Star Wart.

Stanley Bing considers rooting for the bad guys in search of eternal life.