Public attitudes regarding mental illness are frequently apocryphal and damaging, and a major source of these views is media portrayal of a topic that affects all of us to some extent.

How do real psychiatric hospitals approach the so-called "criminally insane?" Who are these mentally ill criminals? And importantly, what does mental illness have to do with violence?

Mass Effect’s genophage is one of the few fictions in gaming that is easiest to match to real science. We can already engineer viruses that manipulate genetics within biological systems. While such a bioweaponized feat is difficult to create within model animals (let alone sapient life) let's have some fun speculating…

"Nanotechnology offers unprecedented possibilities for progress—defeating poverty, starvation, and disease, opening up outer space, and expanding human capacities. But it also brings unprecedented risks—the specter of devastating wars fought with far more powerful weapons of mass destruction." - Chris Phoenix,…

With the recent release of Halo 4, players have once again been thrust into the space boots of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. Master Chief has faced a wide variety of enemies since the 2001 release of Halo: Combat Evolved that have been both impressive and terrifying. The mere sight of a particular foe, however,…

You're running out of ammo, the last medikit you saw was three towns behind, and that nice guy shooting at you just got a sniper to help him out.

Editor's note: Our guy at Thwacke, a Canadian outfit that advises game developers in all things science, writes to us and says he's got an expert who can explain how the Zerg in StarCraft have a whole lot in common with real insects. Are we interested? Of course we are! Read on, unless you're squeamish...

Some people have cool jobs. And then there's Scott Maxwell, who has one of the best gigs on two planets. He's one of the people who drives the Curiosity Rover on Mars. How do you get that job? What's it like? And how does it compare to all the sci-fi and video game fantasies we've all had about this kind of thing?

Editor's Note: Back in July, the folks at the wonderfully-named science-minded consulting group Thwacke, they were telling us about what StarCraft and Mass Effect get right about astronomy.