NonFiction articles - Jim Baen's Universe RSS (2.0) Feed

Cosmic Electricity

James P. Hogan — Mon, 05 May 2008 12:41:00 -0000

There's a story about a physics student who was asked in an exam question how he would use a barometer to determine the height of a tall building.

Becoming Stewards of Our World: The Great Theme of the 21st Century, Part Two, Editing the Sun: A Way Out Way Out

Gregory Benford — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:41:00 -0000

Our biosphere doesn’t respond on the time scales of our institutions.

Earth's Next Schism

Stephen Euin Cobb — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:18:00 -0000

A schism has formed inside the virtual world called Second Life.

What I’ve Learned Interviewing Futurists

Stephen Euin Cobb — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:59:00 -0000

Two years of asking people for their expectations about the future has radically changed my view of what is to come.

Becoming Stewards of Our World: The Great Theme of the 21st Century, Part One

Gregory Benford — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:38:00 -0000

The deep secret about global warming is that the conventional wisdom solution is a lie.

Your Medical Care in the Coming Three Decades

Stephen Euin Cobb — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:01:00 -0000

Rubber Sciences

Norman Spinrad — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:15:00 -0000

Science fiction and politics are, in theory, arts of the possible, just as fantasy and religion are arts of the impossible.

Why Do So Many People Resist the Idea of Global Warming?

Stephen Euin Cobb — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 14:41:00 -0000

I think I have the answer.

Why Carol Won't Sit Next To Me At Science Fiction Movies

Mike Resnick — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:07:00 -0000

Carol has a high threshold for embarrassment. You can't be married to me for 45 years and not have one.

The Perpetual Electron

Stephen Euin Cobb — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:44:00 -0000

Many of the articles this humble author writes must be considered speculative. The goal of speculation is to generate new ideas, new visions and new interpretations of what is and what might be.

Fifteen Ways Cheap Solar Cells are going to Change the World

Stephen Euin Cobb — Tue, 22 May 2007 16:59:00 -0000

My Father's Watch

Stephen Euin Cobb — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 02:18:00 -0000

If you thumb through a new and freshly printed physics textbook from any university on Earth, you will be looking at the culmination of centuries of careful work by thousands of dedicated scientists; such a book is a treasure beyond description, easily comparable to the lost library of Alexandria.

Scandals: Being True To Our Own Imaginations

Gregory Benford — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 23:23:00 -0000

Physics has been the forerunner of much of modern science, but perhaps we don't have enough verve, the true courage of our convictions.

Last Things: Cold Comfort in the Far Future

Gregory Benford — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 23:20:00 -0000

...the use, however haltingly, of our imaginations upon the possibilities of the future is a valuable spiritual exercise.

The Universal Diagram

Stephen Euin Cobb — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:51:00 -0000

Occasionally, important advances in scientific understanding are made not by gathering more or better data, or by developing a new and radical theory, but by simply experimenting with a new way of displaying the data that everyone has already examined to their satisfaction.

S.S. Sunbeam

Iver P. Cooper — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 20:19:00 -0000

A new Age of Sail is dawning. One in which the ships sail through outer space, not on water; and are propelled by the sunlight, not wind.

Genre Getaways on Earth

Carol Pinchefsky — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 16:13:00 -0000

Science fiction and fantasy films have some fabulous locations: the United Federation of Planets, a galaxy far, far away, and Middle Earth, to name a few.

The Essay with No Title (until its end)

Stephen Euin Cobb — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 22:47:00 -0000

Based on what we have seen of the rise of life on our planet, one can extrapolate that there are three basic needs for life to develop elsewhere in the universe.

A Pocket History of MacroEngineering: The First Millennium

Gregory Benford — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:57:00 -0000

From the standpoint of a person in that distant past age around the year 2000, the central issues of the next thousand years would seem bizarre.

Jim Baen October 22, 1943 - June 28, 2006

David Drake — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 03:10:00 -0000

Jim Baen called me on the afternoon of June 11. He generally phoned on weekends, and we'd usually talk a couple more times in the course of a week; but this was the last time.

Jim Baen October 22, 1943 - June 28, 2006

David Drake — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 16:17:00 -0000

Jim Baen, our publisher passed away quietly around 5PM Wed. 28 June 2006.

Doing a Slow Turn

David Brin — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:24:00 -0000

Lately, like a lot of other Americans, I have been trying to understand our national affliction called "Culture War."

Back to the Moon

Travis Taylor — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 07:10:00 -0000

"As I take these last steps from the surface for some time in the future to come, I'd just like to record that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. And as we leave the moon and Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for mankind." These are the words said by astronaut Gene Cernan, the commander of Apollo 17, as he stepped from the moon in preparation to return to Earth.

Robowar

Gregory Benford — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 17:26:00 -0000

Most likely, robots will make our battlefields less bloody

…for some.

Terraforming: A Bumpy Road Ahead

B. B. Kristopher — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 04:14:00 -0000

I grew up watching Marvin the Martian and Bugs Bunny fight it out over the Illudim Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator. Along the way, I also had a run-in with Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series, the earlier works of Robert Heinlein and a whole host of works that depicted Mars as a vital, life bearing world. Venus often followed along side, usually as a world of swamps and tropical jungles.

Gods and Monsters in Hollywood

Gregory Benford — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 04:06:00 -0000

Movies are just so bad. Gregory Benford wonders why...