Fringe Science: Parallel Universes, White Tulips, and Mad Scientists

Scientific experts explore the ideas behind the hit TV show.
 
Fringe Science delves into the science, science fiction, and pseudoscience of Fringe with a collection of essays on everything from alternate universes to time travel to genetically targeted toxins, as well as discussions on the show’s moral philosophy and the consequences of playing God.
 

• MIT physics professor Max Tegmark illuminates the real-life possibilities of parallel universes
• Stephen Cass, founding editor of Discover ’s Science Not Fiction blog and a senior editor with MIT Technology Review, unravels Fringe ’s use of time travel
• Award-winning science fiction historian Amy H. Sturgis walks us through the show’s literary and television ancestors, from the 1800s on
• Television Without Pity staff writer Jacob Clifton looks at the role of the scientist, and scientific redemption, through the ever-shifting role of Massive Dynamic
• Garth Sundem, bestselling author of Brain Candy, explores the mysterious way that memory works, from why Walter forgets to how Olivia remembers
• Paul Levinson, award-winning author of The Silk Code, shows how Fringe re-invents themes from golden-age 1950s science fiction

 
And more, from lab cow Gene’s scientific résumé to why the Observers should be wearing white lab coats.