Reality Check

New Year's has come and gone, but what the hell does that mean, anyway? Where do we come up with all these silly temporal divisions? Well, some make more sense than others.

Reality Check: How to Define a Year?

New Year’s has come and gone, but what the hell does that mean, anyway? Where do we come up with...

By Russ DoblerJanuary 6, 2014

In Marvel's recent two part mini-series, The Trial of the Punisher, mass-murdering vigilante Frank Castle finally sees the inside of a courtroom, and the results are predictably chaotic. Castle's attorney enters a "not responsible plea" - the insanity defense - which, despite the public's perception, is exceedingly rare and is actually only entertained in less than 1% of all felony indictment cases tried.

Comic Books

Reality Check: Memory, Perception and the Punisher

In Marvel’s recent two part mini-series, The Trial of the Punisher, mass-murdering vigilante Frank Castle finally sees the inside of...

By Russ DoblerDecember 24, 2013

The holidays are upon us, and it's Season's Beatings-both digitally and IRL-for video game enthusiasts in America. Come on, I'm sure some of you were out there throwin' 'bows when the PS4 and Xbox One dropped in a panic of consumer madness last month.

Gaming

Reality Check: Are Video Games Brain Training or Killing Instruction?

The holidays are upon us, and it’s Season’s Beatings-both digitally and IRL-for video game enthusiasts in America. Come on, I’m...

By Russ DoblerDecember 17, 2013

As Marvel's "Infinity" has drawn to a close, we also end our three-part series analyzing the way-out science Jonathan Hickman has included therein. From the directed panspermia of Ex Nihilo to the motivations of Thanos' interstellar pirate horde, we finish with something a little more human. Or Inhuman, as it were.

Reality Check

Reality Check: Inhumans and Interbreeding

As Marvel’s “Infinity” has drawn to a close, we also end our three-part series analyzing the way-out science Jonathan Hickman...

By Russ DoblerDecember 3, 2013

It's a common misconception that science progresses in a linear fashion, boldly mowing down ignorance in an unstoppable acquisition of truth. The reality is more like being trapped in a dark room, feeling around for something that might not even be there. We have to use our cleverness and ingenuity to devise ways of finding out. If the universe were easily explicable, and all it took was a little forward momentum, we'd have it all figured out by now.

Reality Check

Reality Check: Marvel Summons the Ghosts of Science Past

It’s a common misconception that science progresses in a linear fashion, boldly mowing down ignorance in an unstoppable acquisition of...

By Russ DoblerNovember 15, 2013

$The final chapter of the X-Men's 50th anniversary story dropped last week, concluding the timestream-spanning fracas that was "Battle of the Atom." Well, really, the issue has always existed and always will exist. Our perception of forward flow is an illusion and all of time exists eternally and simultaneously, just like all of space. That's if you believe the relativistic arguments of physicists like Brian Greene, Sean Carroll, Adam Frank and Einstein himself. Find out more in this video, taken from the PBS adaptation of Greene's book, "Fabric of the Cosmos."$ $The final chapter of the X-Men's 50th anniversary story dropped last week, concluding the timestream-spanning fracas that was "Battle of the Atom." Well, really, the issue has always existed and always will exist. Our perception of forward flow is an illusion and all of time exists eternally and simultaneously, just like all of space. That's if you believe the relativistic arguments of physicists like Brian Greene, Sean Carroll, Adam Frank and Einstein himself. Find out more in this video, taken from the PBS adaptation of Greene's book, "Fabric of the Cosmos."$