Participant Feedback: Unrealistic Science in Fiction

Thank you to everyone who participated in “Audience perspectives on scientific realism in fiction.” The study aimed to understand when and why the realism of science in fiction is important to audiences. A total of 55 people shared their views on this topic by participating in interviews and focus group discussions. The complete results are reported in my PhD thesis, Screaming When There is Sound in Space: Unrealistic Science and the Reception of Narrative Fiction.

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Peter Hopper/flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

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Queer scientists in television science fiction

The Doctor and Captain Jack HarknessThe UK’s public broadcaster the BBC has this month commissioned a study into representations of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people in its fiction and non-fiction programs (BBC News, 2010).

Of particular interest to science communicators is representations of scientists in fiction, and this study seems a timely prompt to ask: are there any queer scientist characters on telly?

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