Recently I went to a fascinating research seminar on the history of the theory of mass extinction and the human fears of and impact on extinction given by historian of biology, Dr David Sepkoski (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin) at the Centre for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine (University of Manchester). It got me… Read more →
Tag: Genetics
‘Talking Apes with Big-Ass Spears’: Violence, Science, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
**Contains minor spoilers** By 2011 I had already spent five years of postgraduate study researching the history and cultural interpretations of Planet of the Apes. I was very nervous about seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes; it was released just a few weeks before I submitted my PhD and I knew I would have to make at least… Read more →
Fear of a Radioactive Planet: Genetic Anxieties and Atomic Cinema in the 1950s
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of introducing a SciScreen event for Science London. They were showing the 1956 British SF film The Gamma People produced by Irving Allen and Cubby Broccoli. It just so happens that this is a film that I wrote about in an article on the relationship between genetics and 1950s SF cinema.… Read more →