In today’s installment of Science of Future Past, we finish up with part four of Asimov’s Foundation: The Traders.

As we discussed a couple of weeks back, The Traders, tells the story of a space-faring trader by the name of Linmar Ponyets who is ordered by the Foundation to go and rescue a fellow trader who has been imprisoned by a hostile government. Today we’ll take a look at the science behind the technology he employs to pull this off: transmutation.

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In today’s installment of Science of Future Past, we continue our exploration of the technology showcased in the forth part of Asimov’s Foundation: The Traders.

As we discussed in the last episode, in part four of Foundation, The Traders, a space-faring trader by the name of Linmar Ponyets is ordered by the Foundation to go and rescue a fellow trader who has been imprisoned by a hostile government. Last time we focused on the possible technology behind the message capsule that contained Ponyets’ orders. Today we’ll take a look at the science behind two pieces of technology that receive only casual mentions in the book: spy beams and field distorters.

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In today’s installment of Science of Future Past, we explore some unorthodox uses of those famous “building blocks of life” known as DNA. We’ll start off with Asimov’s Foundation before heading to a galaxy far, far away.

Rapid DNA Sequencing

In part four of Foundation, The Traders, a space-faring trader by the name of Linmar Ponyets is ordered by the Foundation to go and rescue a fellow trader who has been imprisoned by a hostile government. While the issues involved with the actual rescue are extremely interesting, I’m not going to discuss them today. Instead I want to look at the mechanism that the Foundation used to send the message to Ponyet:

The tiny, gleaming sphere changed hands, and Gorm added, “It’s confidential. Super-secret. Can’t be trusted to the sub-ether and all that. Or so I gather. At least it’s a Personal Capsule, and won’t open for anyone but you.”

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In the first part of this series we began an exploration of the science portrayed in the first two parts of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation: the Psychohistorians and the Encyclopedists. Today we continue on with the third part of the book, the Mayors.

In my opinion, the third part of Foundation is considerably more dynamic and exciting than the first two parts. Most of you reading this probably know that the majority of the original Foundation book is actually a collection of short stories that were first published in Astounding Magazine back in the early 1940’s. (The first part of the book, the Psychohistorians, was added when the rest of the series was republished in book form).

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When I read classic science fiction stories and see technologies described which have later appeared in real life, I sometimes wonder whether these early writers were predicting the future, or defining it.

In other words, did they see the trends of science and technology and follow them to their logical conclusions, or have modern scientists and inventors been so inspired by the writings of such authors as Asimov, Heinlein, and Jules Verne, that they seek to bring to life the visions so vividly described by these authors? Regardless of which way they inspiration flowed, I find it interesting to compare the technologies described in these works of the past with their modern counterparts.

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As a parent, I feel it my duty to introduce my children to the classics of science fiction and fantasy. Arguably, some of the things we watch and read together are more classic than others, but all have their place in the spectrum of classic geekness. Interestingly, my kids immediately identified with the Szalinski family in the film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (that’s the one with the nerdy dad whose crazy inventions littered the house and often resulted in smoke-filled explosions), while they thought that the sports-loving family next door seemed to be a bit weird—an observation that I must admit filled me with no small amount of irrational pride.

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After taking a few weeks off while we moved across the pond, I’ve returned my research focus to investigating the science behind allomancy in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. As I mentioned in my first post regarding this research, the concept of iron pulling and steel pushing left its mark on my psyche, prompting me to wonder what sort of scientific basis, if any, there could be behind allomantic abilities. This week, we come full circle as I discuss those very powers that most appealed to me.

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Emotional allomancy is the power described in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn novels which allows an allomancer to influence another’s emotions. 

This week I continue my research on the possible science behind the powers of Allomancy by tacking the toughest of the allomantic metals, pewter.

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Emotional allomancy is the power described in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn novels which allows an allomancer to influence another’s emotions. Allomancers that posses the appropriate powers can burn zinc or brass to riot or soothe someone’s emotions, causing them to change their behavior.

The mechanism for how these emotional changes are brought about aren’t well understood. However, as I mentioned last week, I have reason to believe that emotional allomancy makes use of symbiotic parasites.

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Last week we began our exploration of the science of allomancy when I outlined a hypothesis of the scientific principles which account for the enhanced senses of an allomancer who is burning Tin.

An important aspect of that hypothesis was the fact that the “burning” of metal by an allomancer gives off a distinct pulse which can be detected by other allomancers. This side-effect makes it rather inconvenient for those that would like to use their powers in secret.

Fortunately there is a way to mask these allomantic pulses from prying eyes, namely burning copper. But since we know so little of how allomancy really works, can science provide a hypothesis on how copper prevents its detection? Of course it can.

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You can tell that an epic has left its mark on you when you continue to think about its world and characters long after you’ve read the last pages. In my case, the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson was that kind of epic. For many days after I finished reading the final book in the trilogy, I found myself looking at my pocket change with a sort of wistful longing, imagining what it would be like to “drop a coin” and flit through the mists, mistcloak billowing behind me.

When I start feeling wistful, the curious part of my brain starts asking questions. What if it were really possible to ingest metal, “burn it”, and have it affect you and those around you. How exactly would that work? Is any aspect of allomancy even possible in our world? It was these very questions that led me to start an informal review of the current state of scientific research regarding the abilities bestowed by each of the allomantic metals. What I found may surprise you.

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