RP154 Science Fiction

 RP154 Science Fiction

What would happen if time travel became possible or if robots developed real intelligence? What if we discovered a new planet with a more advanced type of species?

These questions are the reason that science fiction exists. Science fiction takes possibilities like these and explores how human beings would react. Science fiction (sci-fi) is fiction that takes place in a world that is somewhat like ours, but changed in important ways. Those changes have to do with science and technology. But sci-fi is really interested in people, not just technology. It tries to show how people, as we are now, would behave in strange new situations.“The literature of ideas” is what science fiction is often called, because it goes beyond reality.

Science fiction is also called “the literature of change.” This is because it usually becomes popular in times of change. When big changes are happening in a society, writers often try to explore them. Sometimes the changes are too new or dangerous to write about. Science fiction writers, therefore, create metaphors. They use their imaginary technological changes to represent real social changes or problems. Science fiction was born in a time of change— the beginning of the Age of Reason in the West. People's beliefs were being challenged by new scientific theories and developments. Writers wanted to explore those changes. That era was when famous early sci-fi books like Gulliver's Travels were written.

Science fiction has been going strong since then. Some famous sci-fi writers are Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Phillip K. Dick, H. G. Wells, and Ursula K. Le Guin, though there are many more. If you like imagination and new ideas, sci-fi may be for you.

RP153 Unusual Taboos

 RP153 Unusual Taboos

All cultures have taboos—things that are not allowed. Many taboos come from religion and ancient traditions. What may be perfectly normal in one culture can be terribly offensive in another. Many taboos are about food and clothing.

Are you eating now? What time is it? In Portugal, you shouldn't eat oranges at night; in Cape Verde, they say the same thing about sweet potatoes. Some taboos are about what you shouldn't eat. In America, eating dog or horse meat is taboo, as is eating most insects. In other places, these foods are fine. Many people in India would never eat beef, but in most of the rest of the world, people raise cows for meat. The way people eat is also ruled by taboos. In China you can eat with your mouth open, whereas in Europe this is rude. In many parts of the world, eating with the left hand is taboo, because it is used for washing yourself.

Clothing taboos often show social status. Many cultures use colors to show rank. In ancient Rome, only senators could wear purple. Some taboos are about what skin people can show. In the past, to see a woman's ankle was taboo. Now, we have bikinis! In India, traditional saris show women's stomachs, but these clothes would be taboo in much of the Middle East. And in Tonga, it is illegal for a man to go without a shirt in public!

Understanding taboos helps us understand other cultures' histories, since most taboos come from the distant past. Learning about other cultures' taboos also helps us understand our own. After all, any one of our taboos could seem strange to a foreigner.

RP152 The Northern Lights

RP152 The Northern Lights

The beautiful northern lights sweep across the northern skies. Sometimes they look like blue or green smoke. Sometimes they look like a vast white scarf shaken out between the stars. They appear mysterious, as if from another world, and they have been inspiring mankind for centuries.

The Cree people called them the “Dance of the Spirits.” Some ancient Norse thought the lights were reflections off the shield of fallen ancient soldiers going to their paradise. Others thought they were oceans surrounded by fire. The red lights can also look like a breath of fire from a dragon. In fact, they may be a source of dragon myths. Red lights were often thought to predict wars. Some cultures hide when the northern lights are in the sky; others watch them with respect. Many Asian cultures believe children born under northern lights will be lucky, but some European cultures believed the opposite.

These mysterious lights that inspire our imaginations really do come from another world—they come from the sun. The northern lights—or “aurora borealis” their scientific name—result from solar wind connecting with particles high in Earth's atmosphere. This connection causes the particles to give off different substances. When there are storms on the sun, we see more auroras, because there's more solar wind. The different colors of the auroras are a result of different particles releasing different substances. All this activity can cause problems for radios and other electronic tools, though it creates unbelievable art in the sky.

The northern lights are still a source of inspiration for human beings. Photographers, painters, writers—they all try to capture the awe that these lights create. However, these lights are difficult to pin down on paper. You may just have to see them for yourself. 

RP151 Wired for Love

 RP151 Wired for Love?

In 2016, newspapers reported that a French woman had said something very strange. She was "engaged" to a robot and planned to marry it as soon as robot-human marriage became legal.

A strange story, yes. But in fact, people falling in love with non-human objects is nothing new. People have "married" the Eifel Tower, the Berlin Wall, and even the Statue of Liberty. In the past, these affairs were seen as strange and the people involved in them rather odd. Technology is now so advanced, however, that certain objects (such as computers and robots) can seem almost human. The question is no longer a joke. Could there be a future in which human-robot relationships not only exist, but are considered normal?

The fact is, over the past 20 years we have been interacting with technology in ever-more-intimate ways. The Tamagotchi craze of the 1990s had people giving up their lives to take care of tiny digital "pets." In the early 2000s, Sony's robot dog AIBO stole people's hearts. And in 2011, Apple's Siri gave iPhones voices and personalities. Nowadays, we often spend more time with our phones than we do with other people. Artificial intelligence will continue to simulate human personalities and behavior ever more accurately. And the barriers against falling in love with artificial humans may soon fall away altogether as a result. Indeed, surveys show that 30% of people feel they could fall in love with robots in the future. One scientist even predicts that human-robot marriages will be legal by 2050.

Technology is, of course, meant to make our lives easier. In this case, however, it seems the more advanced technology gets, the more complicated the situation might become. But then again, when was true love ever simple?

RP150 Save Our Seas

 RP150 Save Our Seas

In August 2000, people in the Australian seaside town of Cairns found something very unusual on their beach: a whale. It was sick, and had come out of the ocean. It soon died on the sand.

When vets looked inside the dead whale, they found six square meters of plastic. The animal had eaten plastic bags that humans had thrown into the sea. Another whale died in Terschelling, in the Netherlands, in 2013. It had swallowed plastic bags, rope, flowerpots, and even a spray bottle. Turtles eat plastic bags all the time, mistaking them for jellyfish.

In May 2003, a platypus was found near a river in Tasmania, an Australian island. A plastic bag was wrapped around its body. It survived, and was named Lucky by its rescuers. Sadly, many other platypuses are not so lucky.

Animals are dying because of our trash. Plastic bags are a particular problem, because they last such a long time. While paper bags break down in months, plastic bags take a minimum of 10 years! But they are light and cheap, and people use them every day without thinking.

Many countries have tried to manage the problem of plastic bags. Bangladesh was the first country to ban them, and others, including China, have adopted full or partial bans. Governments have asked people to use cloth bags at the supermarket instead.

We cannot solve this problem overnight. There is already too much plastic in our oceans. However, we can stop producing more. Plastic comes from natural gas and petrol, which are bad for the environment anyway. Both humans and animals will benefit if plastic bags are banned everywhere.

RP149 The Shakespeare of Rock & Roll

RP149 The Shakespeare of Rock & Roll

In 2016, a songwriter won the Nobel Prize in Literature for the first time. But this is only the latest victory for the man often called the greatest American poet of the 20th century. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Bob Dylan!

Born in Minnesota in 1941, Robert Zimmerman changed his name and moved to New York in 1961 to make a career in music. Originally a folk singer, he played social and political songs in coffee shops for small crowds. He was soon noticed by Columbia Records, and his first album, Bob Dylan, was released in 1962. Although his early records weren't very big sellers, Dylan quickly found success as a songwriter. His famous protest song "Blowin' in the Wind" was a hit for the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary in 1963. Since then, countless other artists have covered Dylan's songs.

In 1965, Dylan shocked the music world by switching from soft folk to hard rock. While some of his old fans were disappointed, many new fans were created. The single "Like a Rolling Stone" reached number two in the United States, making Dylan a star. A couple of years later he changed styles again, writing and playing quiet country songs. Now the rock fans were upset, but Dylan just kept moving forward. 1969's Nashville Skyline was his fastest-selling album yet!

The end of the 1960s did not bring an end to Dylan's success. Hits such as "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"(1973) kept him in the public eye, and 1975's Blood on the Tracks remains his best-selling album. More than 40 years later, he continues to record and perform around the world. In addition to his Nobel Prize, Dylan has won 12 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and the US presidential Medal of Freedom. The man who began his career by attacking the establishment is now very well established! 

RP148 Victorian Art

RP148 Victorian Art

From 1837 to 1901, Queen Victoria ruled England. She ruled while the British Empire became the most powerful, most modern, and wealthiest nation in the world. For this reason, many people of that era were very positive. They believed science could solve the world's problems. They believed their Empire was changing the world for the better. Their new wealth and positive outlook led to an explosion of new artwork, as people had time to make, think about, and consume art.

The Victorian Age gave us new styles of painting. One was called Pre-Raphaelite. The Pre-Raphaelites believed that after Raphael and Michelangelo, art became too controlled. They believed emotion and rich details were more important than reason and rules of composition. They thought paintings should explode with color and feeling. Their paintings were richly colored and very detailed. Dante Rossetti and William Holman Hunt are typical Pre-Raphaelite painters.

Romanticism was similar to the Pre-Raphaelite movement in that it valued emotion over reason. The Romanticists were fascinated by nature— the heroic and beautiful and the dark and diseased. They used scenes from the Middle Ages because they believed that was a darker, more passionate time than the popular Classical period. They focused on amazing individuals rather than social rules.

Another important development in Victorian art was the beginning of photography. Queen Victoria was the first monarch to have her photo taken. This new technology was being used for science and art. Many early photos are composed like paintings, while others explore the differences between the art forms.

The energy and emotions of the Victorian Age brought many positive changes. People pushed the boundaries of their art and technology and created new styles and new ideas. They still influence us today.