106-453: Project Hail Mary is a 2021 science fiction novel by American writer Andy Weir . Set in the near future , it centers on school-teacher-turned- astronaut Ryland Grace, who wakes up from a coma afflicted with amnesia . He gradually remembers that he was sent to the Tau Ceti solar system, 12 light-years from Earth, to find a means of reversing a solar dimming event that could cause
212-765: A computer -like screen , computer viruses , video chat , tanning beds , home treadmills , and more. In 1963, the time travel-themed Doctor Who premiered on BBC Television. The original series ran until 1989 and was revived in 2005. It has been extremely popular worldwide and has greatly influenced later TV science fiction. Other programs in the 1960s included The Outer Limits (1963–1965), Lost in Space (1965–1968), and The Prisoner (1967). Star Trek (the original series), created by Gene Roddenberry , premiered in 1966 on NBC Television and ran for three seasons. It combined elements of space opera and Space Western . Only mildly successful at first,
318-451: A space burial . Hail Mary soon reaches Tau Ceti, and is approached by an alien starship, which Grace names "Blip-A." The other ship indicates that its home system in 40 Eridani is also plagued by Astrophage infection. Blip-A docks with Hail Mary, and the two ships establish first contact . Grace develops a system to communicate with the spider-like five-legged alien, whom Grace names "Rocky" due to its stone-like exoskeleton . Rocky,
424-428: A space opera , went on to become a worldwide popular culture phenomenon , and the second-highest-grossing film series of all time. Since the 1980s, science fiction films , along with fantasy , horror , and superhero films, have dominated Hollywood's big-budget productions. Science fiction films often " cross-over " with other genres, including film noir ( Blade Runner - 1982), family film ( E.T.
530-406: A catastrophic ice age within 30 years. A space probe is used to discover that the line appears to contain alien microbes . The world's governments cooperate, giving former European Space Agency (ESA) administrator Eva Stratt unilateral authority and legal immunity to solve the problem. Stratt nominates Ryland Grace, a junior high (middle) school teacher and former molecular biologist , as
636-445: A cure or prevention. There are several extremely important case studies: Henry Molaison, R.B, and G.D. Henry Molaison , formerly known as H.M., changed the way people thought of memory. The case was first reported in a paper by William Beecher Scoville and Brenda Milner in 1957. He was a patient who had severe epilepsy attributed to a bicycle accident at the age of nine. Physicians were unable to control his seizures with drugs, so
742-535: A great and influential film. In 1954, Godzilla , directed by Ishirō Honda , began the kaiju subgenre of science fiction film, which feature large creatures of any form, usually attacking a major city or engaging other monsters in battle . 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey , directed by Stanley Kubrick and based on the work of Arthur C. Clarke , rose above the mostly B-movie offerings up to that time both in scope and quality, and influenced later science fiction films. That same year, Planet of
848-677: A journey to the Moon and how the Earth 's motion is seen from there. Kepler has been called the "father of science fiction". Following the 17th-century development of the novel as a literary form , Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein (1818) and The Last Man (1826) helped define the form of the science fiction novel. Brian Aldiss has argued that Frankenstein was the first work of science fiction. Edgar Allan Poe wrote several stories considered to be science fiction, including " The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall " (1835), which featured
954-458: A list in the first place. However, H.M.'s working and short-term memory seemed to be intact. He had a normal digit span and could hold a conversation that did not require him to recall past parts of the conversation. Once Molaison stopped thinking about the lists he was unable to recall them again from long-term memory. This gave researchers evidence that short-term and long-term memory are in fact two different processes. Even though he forgot about
1060-442: A lower level of RbAp48 protein compared to normal, healthy mice. In people with amnesia, the ability to recall immediate information is still retained, and they may still be able to form new memories. However, a severe reduction in the ability to learn new material and retrieve old information can be observed. People can learn new procedural knowledge. In addition, priming (both perceptual and conceptual) can assist amnesiacs in
1166-444: A multi-volume space opera called Zhek , about a substance that could absorb electromagnetic radiation and be used as a fuel for interstellar travel . He wrote 75,000 words before abandoning the project and beginning his novel Artemis (2017). Several elements from Zhek were brought over to Project Hail Mary , including a ruthless bureaucrat character, and an energy-absorbing substance used as starship fuel. Project Hail Mary
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#17327909611681272-449: A patient loses the recent memories, then personal memories, and finally intellectual memories. He implied that the most recent memories were lost first. Case studies have played a large role in the discovery of amnesia and the parts of the brain that were affected. The studies gave important insight into how amnesia affects the brain. The studies also gave scientists the resources into improving their knowledge about amnesia and insight into
1378-431: A patient with amnesia might have a loss of declarative memory, this loss might vary in severity as well as the declarative information that it affects, depending on many factors. For example, LSJ was a patient who had retrograde declarative memory loss as the result of bilateral medial temporal lobe damage, but she was still able to remember how to perform some declarative skills. She was able to remember how to read music and
1484-426: A person. The three categories are head trauma (example: head injuries), traumatic events (example: seeing something devastating to the mind), or physical deficiencies (example: atrophy of the hippocampus ). The majority of amnesia and related memory issues derive from the first two categories as these are more common and the third could be considered a subcategory of the first. Among specific causes of amnesia are
1590-687: A personal digital device to keep track of day-to-day tasks. Reminders can be set up for appointments when to take medications, birthdays and other important events. Many pictures can also be stored to help amnesiacs remember names of friends, family, and co-workers. Notebooks, wall calendars, pill reminders and photographs of people and places are low-tech memory aids that can help as well. While there are no medications available to treat amnesia, underlying medical conditions can be treated to improve memory. Such conditions include but are not limited to low thyroid function , liver or kidney disease , stroke , depression , bipolar disorder and blood clots in
1696-498: A replacement, Stratt asks Grace to join the mission. When he declines, she forces him. Grace threatens sabotage, so a sedative is administered to him before launch, with a temporary amnesia -inducing drug set to be administered shortly before he awakens. Ryland Grace emerges from his coma with no memory of his identity or situation. As the mission proceeds, Grace deduces his situation while his memory returns gradually. Grace finds that his crew members have died en route, and gives them
1802-412: A result of the surgery and became very agitated. Even five days after being released from the hospital he was unable to remember what had happened to him. Aside from memory impairment, none of his other cognitive processes seemed to be affected. He did not want to be involved in much research, but through memory tests he took with doctors, they were able to ascertain that his memory problems were present for
1908-640: A simple rehash of The Martian . Instead, it’s a celebration of Weir’s voice... Weir’s jaunty blend of science and fiction in Project Hail Mary is a return to the work that got him where he is." The reviewer for The Boston Globe wrote that " Project Hail Mary is still a suspenseful space yarn that zigs and zags — sometimes literally — in ingenious directions." Project Hail Mary debuted at number 3 on The New York Times Best Seller list for Combined Print & E-Book Fiction in May 2021. By August 2021,
2014-612: A skilled engineer , has been in the Tau Ceti system for 46 years as the last survivor of his crew; Grace deduces that the others died from space radiation , an unknown concept to Eridians. Also unfamiliar with the concept of relativity , the Eridians greatly overestimated the amount of fuel needed for a round-trip to Tau Ceti, and the Blip-A has enough Astrophage fuel for both ships to return to their planets. Grace realizes that what
2120-418: A society (on Earth or another planet) that has developed in wholly different ways from our own." There is a tendency among science fiction enthusiasts as their own arbiter in deciding what exactly constitutes science fiction. David Seed says it may be more useful to talk about science fiction as the intersection of other more concrete subgenres. Damon Knight summed up the difficulty, saying "Science fiction
2226-575: A system to enable Grace to live on Erid, where he becomes a teacher of Eridian young. Around 16 years later (the amount of time it takes for light from the Sun to travel to Erid), Rocky tells Grace that the Astrophage infection around the Sun has abated too, meaning Grace's mission was a success and that Earth's scientists figured out a solution after the return of the beetles. Knowing that humanity has survived on Earth, Grace considers returning to Earth, with
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#17327909611682332-495: A total estimated readership of at least 1 million), making it the world's most popular science fiction periodical . In 1984, William Gibson 's first novel, Neuromancer , helped popularize cyberpunk and the word " cyberspace ", a term he originally coined in his 1982 short story Burning Chrome . In 1986, Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold began her Vorkosigan Saga . 1992's Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson predicted immense social upheaval due to
2438-532: A trip to the Moon . Jules Verne was noted for his attention to detail and scientific accuracy, especially in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870). In 1887, the novel El anacronópete by Spanish author Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau introduced the first time machine . An early French/Belgian science fiction writer was J.-H. Rosny aîné (1856–1940). Rosny's masterpiece
2544-582: A very palatable form... New adventures pictured for us in the scientifiction of today are not at all impossible of realization tomorrow... Many great science stories destined to be of historical interest are still to be written... Posterity will point to them as having blazed a new trail, not only in literature and fiction, but progress as well. In 1928, E. E. "Doc" Smith 's first published work, The Skylark of Space , written in collaboration with Lee Hawkins Garby , appeared in Amazing Stories . It
2650-629: A world of harmony and conformity within a united totalitarian state . It influenced the emergence of dystopia as a literary genre . In 1926, Hugo Gernsback published the first American science fiction magazine , Amazing Stories . In its first issue he wrote: By 'scientifiction' I mean the Jules Verne, H. G. Wells and Edgar Allan Poe type of story—a charming romance intermingled with scientific fact and prophetic vision... Not only do these amazing tales make tremendously interesting reading—they are always instructive. They supply knowledge... in
2756-476: Is Les Navigateurs de l'Infini ( The Navigators of Infinity ) (1925) in which the word astronaut, "astronautique", was used for the first time. Many critics consider H. G. Wells one of science fiction's most important authors, or even "the Shakespeare of science fiction". His works include The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of
2862-420: Is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases , but it can also be temporarily caused by the use of various sedative and hypnotic drugs. The memory can be either wholly or partially lost due to the extent of damage that is caused. There are two main types of amnesia: These two types are not mutually exclusive; both can also occur simultaneously. Case studies also show that amnesia
2968-450: Is cognitive or occupational therapy. In therapy, amnesiacs will develop the memory skills they have and try to regain some they have lost by finding which techniques help retrieve memories or create new retrieval paths. This may also include strategies for organizing information to remember it more easily and for improving understanding of lengthy conversation. Another coping mechanism is taking advantage of technological assistance, such as
3074-401: Is developed to travel to Tau Ceti to obtain knowledge of Astrophage resistance, and to return the findings to Earth with unmanned mini-ships ("beetles", with each named after their respective Beatle counterpart ). Hail Mary can only be fueled and supplied for a one-way trip, making it a suicide mission . Stratt orders the release of methane from Antarctica to reduce global cooling , but
3180-579: Is found to be a microbe which Grace names "Taumoeba." After a Taumoeba outbreak on the Hail Mary, where all Astrophage in the ship's fuel tanks is consumed by the Taumoeba, Grace and Rocky are captured in a decaying orbit over Adrian. They escape by mounting the beetles on the ship's hull and using them as mini thrusters . Grace and Rocky then use selective breeding to produce Taumoeba that can survive in both their home solar systems. Rocky refuels
3286-410: Is found to contain a natural predator of Astrophage. While collecting a sample from Adrian via a 10 kilometer-long chain, a hull breach occurs due to Astrophage-induced ionisation of Adrian's atmosphere and Grace and Rocky both risk their lives to save each other. Grace is severely burned when saving Rocky, who sustained severe injuries but eventually recovers. From the sample, the Astrophage predator
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3392-438: Is mostly just a rumor in the world. It's a rare condition, and usually a brief one. In books and movies, though, versions of amnesia lurk everywhere, from episodes of Mission Impossible to metafictional and absurdist masterpieces, with dozens of stops in between. Amnesiacs might not much exist, but amnesiac characters stumble everywhere through comic books, movies, and our dreams. We've all met them and been them. Lethem traces
3498-635: Is often called the first great space opera . The same year, Philip Francis Nowlan 's original Buck Rogers story, Armageddon 2419 , also appeared in Amazing Stories . This was followed by a Buck Rogers comic strip , the first serious science fiction comic . Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future is a " future history " science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon . A work of unprecedented scale in
3604-417: Is often depicted that a second blow to the head, similar to the first one which caused the amnesia, will then cure it. In reality, however, repeat concussions may cause cumulative deficits including cognitive problems, and in extremely rare cases may even cause deadly swelling of the brain associated with second-impact syndrome . Fictional depictions of amnesia are almost universally retrograde; Memento
3710-512: Is one of the most influential examples of social science fiction , feminist science fiction , and anthropological science fiction . In 1979, Science Fiction World began publication in the People's Republic of China . It dominates the Chinese science fiction magazine market , at one time claiming a circulation of 300,000 copies per issue and an estimated 3–5 readers per copy (giving it
3816-560: Is related to fantasy , horror , and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres . Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Subgenres include hard science fiction , which emphasizes scientific accuracy, and soft science fiction , focusing on social sciences. Other notable subgenres are cyberpunk , which explores the interface between technology and society, and climate fiction , addressing environmental issues. Precedents for science fiction are argued to exist as far back as antiquity, but
3922-437: Is still no actual cure remedy for amnesia so far. To what extent the patient recovers and how long the amnesia will continue depends on the type and severity of the lesion. French psychologist Theodule-Armand Ribot was among the first scientists to study amnesia. He proposed Ribot's Law which states that there is a time gradient in retrograde amnesia. The law follows a logical progression of memory loss due to disease. First,
4028-462: Is typically associated with damage to the medial temporal lobe . In addition, specific areas of the hippocampus (the CA1 region ) are involved with memory. Research has also shown that when areas of the diencephalon are damaged, amnesia can occur. Recent studies have shown a correlation between deficiency of RbAp48 protein and memory loss . Scientists were able to find that mice with damaged memory have
4134-542: Is what we point to when we say it." Forrest J Ackerman has been credited with first using the term "sci-fi" (analogous to the then-trendy " hi-fi ") in about 1954. The first known use in print was a description of Donovan's Brain by movie critic Jesse Zunser in January 1954. As science fiction entered popular culture , writers and fans active in the field came to associate the term with low-budget, low-tech " B-movies " and with low-quality pulp science fiction . By
4240-542: The Golden Age of Science Fiction . Science fiction has been called the "literature of ideas ", and continues to evolve, incorporating diverse voices and themes, influencing not just literature but film, TV, and culture at large. Besides providing entertainment it can also criticize present-day society and explore alternatives, and inspiration a " sense of wonder ". According to Isaac Asimov , "Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature which deals with
4346-542: The Hail Mary still operational and in orbit around Erid but has to ponder the trip since he has friends on Erid (especially Rocky) and he finds his new teaching career rewarding, as well as experiencing some mild health problems due to aging and being in hypergravity for an extended time period. It is not known what his ultimate fate is, but it is likely he stays on Erid. In a profile in The New York Times , Weir says that after completing The Martian , he began
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4452-450: The Hail Mary, and they part ways. En route, Grace discovers that he has accidentally bred into the Taumoeba the ability to permeate and escape their containers, to avoid the toxic nitrogen that he is breeding them to resist. Although Grace fixes the problem on Hail Mary, he realizes that the Blip-A is made of the same material as those containers (xenonite, a xenon compound with extraordinary tensile strength and heat resistance), and that
4558-482: The Russian writer and paleontologist Ivan Yefremov presented a view of a future interstellar communist civilization and is considered one of the most important Soviet science fiction novels. In 1959, Robert A. Heinlein 's Starship Troopers marked a departure from his earlier juvenile stories and novels. It is one of the first and most influential examples of military science fiction , and introduced
4664-451: The information revolution . In 2007, Liu Cixin 's novel, The Three-Body Problem , was published in China. It was translated into English by Ken Liu and published by Tor Books in 2014, and won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel , making Liu the first Asian writer to win the award. Emerging themes in late 20th and early 21st century science fiction include environmental issues ,
4770-401: The pseudorandom sequences experiment just as healthy people; therefore, procedural learning can proceed independently of the brain system required for declarative memory. Some patients with amnesia are able to remember skills that they had learned without being able to consciously recall where they had learned that information. For example, they may learn to do a task and then be able to perform
4876-400: The 1970s, critics within the field, such as Damon Knight and Terry Carr , were using "sci fi" to distinguish hack-work from serious science fiction. Peter Nicholls writes that "SF" (or "sf") is "the preferred abbreviation within the community of sf writers and readers." Robert Heinlein found even "science fiction" insufficient for certain types of works in this genre, and suggested
4982-559: The Apes (the original), directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and based on the 1963 French novel La Planète des Singes by Pierre Boulle , was released to popular and critical acclaim, its vivid depiction of a post-apocalyptic world in which intelligent apes dominate humans . In 1977, George Lucas began the Star Wars film series with the film now identified as " Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope . " The series, often called
5088-583: The Extra-Terrestrial - 1983), war ( Enemy Mine - 1985), comedy ( Spaceballs - 1987, Galaxy Quest - 1999), animation ( WALL-E – 2008, Big Hero 6 – 2014), Western ( Serenity – 2005), action ( Edge of Tomorrow – 2014, The Matrix – 1999), adventure ( Jupiter Ascending – 2015, Interstellar – 2014), mystery ( Minority Report – 2002), thriller ( Ex Machina – 2014), drama ( Melancholia – 2011, Predestination – 2014), and romance ( Eternal Sunshine of
5194-464: The Spotless Mind – 2004, Her – 2013). Science fiction and television have consistently been in a close relationship. Television or television-like technologies frequently appeared in science fiction long before television itself became widely available in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The first known science fiction television program was a thirty-five-minute adapted excerpt of
5300-510: The States and Empires of the Moon (1657) and The States and Empires of the Sun (1662), Margaret Cavendish 's " The Blazing World " (1666), Jonathan Swift 's Gulliver's Travels (1726), Ludvig Holberg 's Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum (1741) and Voltaire 's Micromégas (1752). Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan considered Somnium the first science fiction story; it depicts
5406-402: The Taumoeba would have consumed its fuel, leaving Rocky stranded. Due to a limited food supply, Grace is forced to choose between personally returning to Earth as a hero but dooming the Eridians, or saving Rocky and the Eridians but then starving to death on Erid (the Eridians consume food with a similar chemical makeup, but interspersed with toxic heavy metals). Grace chooses the latter, sending
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#17327909611685512-521: The Worlds (1898). His science fiction imagined alien invasion , biological engineering , invisibility , and time travel . In his non-fiction futurologist works he predicted the advent of airplanes , military tanks , nuclear weapons , satellite television , space travel , and something resembling the World Wide Web . Edgar Rice Burroughs 's A Princess of Mars , published in 1912,
5618-445: The areas of the brain that are affected in anterograde amnesia, as well as how amnesia works. H.M.'s case showed that memory processes are consolidated into different parts of the brain and that short-term and working memory are not usually impaired in cases of amnesia. Another famous historical case of amnesia was that of Clive Wearing . Clive Wearing was a conductor and musician who contracted herpes simplex virus. This virus affected
5724-416: The beetles back to Earth with the Taumoeba, while he locates the fuel-less Blip-A and reunites with Rocky three months after their departure. Rocky is overjoyed and points out the possibility that Grace could consume Taumoeba, giving him a chance at survival. They return to Erid, fixing the Eridians' Astrophage problem. Using the digital archive of human knowledge given to Grace by Stratt, the Eridians build
5830-710: The book had been on the NYT list for 9 weeks. Project Hail Mary additionally achieved the #1 spot on the New York Times Audio Fiction Best Seller List for three weeks in February 2022. The novel debuted at number 2 on the Los Angeles Times SoCal Bestsellers for Hardcover Fiction and number 6 on The Wall Street Journal Bestselling Books List for Hardcover Fiction during the same month. The book
5936-511: The book's film adaptation rights to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in early 2020 for $ 3 million. Ryan Gosling signed on to star in and produce the project in March 2020, with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller signing on to direct the film in May and Drew Goddard , who previously adapted Weir's debut novel The Martian into a film , signing on to write the screenplay in July. In May 2023, it was revealed
6042-463: The brain) that was caused from a heart bypass surgery, R.B. demonstrated a loss of anterograde memory, but almost no loss of retrograde memory, with the exception of a couple of years before his surgery, and presented no sign of any other cognitive impairment. It was not until after his death that researchers had the chance to examine his brain, when they found his lesions were restricted to the CA1 portion of
6148-455: The brain. Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome involves a lack of thiamin and replacing this vitamin by consuming thiamin-rich foods such as whole-grain cereals, legumes (beans and lentils), nuts, lean pork, and yeast can help treat it. Treating alcoholism and preventing alcohol and illicit drug use can prevent further damage, but in most cases will not recover lost memory. Although improvements occur when patients receive certain treatments, there
6254-413: The concept of powered armor exoskeletons . The German space opera series Perry Rhodan , written by various authors, started in 1961 with an account of the first Moon landing and has since expanded in space to multiple universes , and in time by billions of years. It has become the most popular science fiction book series of all time. In the 1960s and 1970s, New Wave science fiction
6360-506: The creation of microrobots and micromachinery , nanotechnology , smartdust , virtual reality , and artificial intelligence (including swarm intelligence ), as well as developing the ideas of "necroevolution" and the creation of artificial worlds. In 1965, Dune by Frank Herbert featured a much more complex and detailed imagined future society than had previously in most science fiction. In 1967 Anne McCaffrey began her Dragonriders of Pern science fantasy series. Two of
6466-472: The devoted aficionado or fan—has a hard time trying to explain what science fiction is," and the lack of a "full satisfactory definition" is because "there are no easily delineated limits to science fiction." Another definition comes from The Literature Book by DK and is, "scenarios that are at the time of writing technologically impossible, extrapolating from present-day science...[,]...or that deal with some form of speculative science-based conceit, such as
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#17327909611686572-439: The episodes, ran from 1959 to 1964. It featured fantasy , suspense , and horror as well as science fiction, with each episode being a complete story. Critics have ranked it as one of the best TV programs of any genre . The animated series The Jetsons , while intended as comedy and only running for one season (1962–1963), predicted many inventions now in common use: flat-screen televisions , newspapers on
6678-454: The extinction of humanity. It received generally positive reviews, and was a finalist for the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Novel . The unabridged audiobook is read by Ray Porter . A film adaptation is currently in production, starring Ryan Gosling and Sandra Hüller , with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller directing. It is scheduled for release on March 20, 2026. The story follows two storylines, each told chronologically, starting with
6784-510: The film would begin production in early 2024 in the United Kingdom . In April 2024, Amazon MGM Studios , who acquired MGM in 2022, announced a possible 2026 release window for the film. Later that month, a release date of March 20, 2026, was set. At the time of the announcement, the list of people who is associated with this film as producers included Amy Pascal , Gosling, Lord, Miller, Aditya Sood, Rachel O’Connor and Weir. Sandra Hüller
6890-512: The first person to study a sample of the organism recovered from Venus, as she views him as expendable and his research as a molecular biologist had predicted the type of life the sample is suspected to be. He discovers that the single-celled organism consumes all forms of electromagnetic radiation and uses radiant energy to move. Since the organism consumes energy from the Sun, Grace names it "Astrophage" ( Greek for "star eater"). Grace subsequently discovers that Astrophage reproduces by feeding on
6996-762: The first science fiction novel . Some of the stories from The Arabian Nights , along with the 10th-century The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter and Ibn al-Nafis 's 13th-century Theologus Autodidactus , are also argued to contain elements of science fiction. Written during the Scientific Revolution and later the Age of Enlightenment are considered true science-fantasy books. Francis Bacon 's New Atlantis (1627), Johannes Kepler 's Somnium (1634), Athanasius Kircher 's Itinerarium extaticum (1656), Cyrano de Bergerac 's Comical History of
7102-446: The following: Many forms of amnesia fix themselves without being treated. However, there are a few ways to cope with memory loss if treatment is needed. Since there are a variety of causes that form different amnesia, there are different methods that response better with the certain type of amnesia. Emotional support and love as well as medication and psychological therapy have been proven effective. One technique for amnesia treatment
7208-486: The genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years. In 1937, John W. Campbell became editor of Astounding Science Fiction , an event that is sometimes considered the beginning of the Golden Age of Science Fiction , which was characterized by stories celebrating scientific achievement and progress . The "Golden Age" is often said to have ended in 1946, but sometimes
7314-401: The heat of the Sun and carbon dioxide on Venus . Other scientists discover that Astrophage employs mass–energy conversion via neutrinos , and can be mass-bred for use as rocket fuel . Astronomy data reveals that Astrophage has also infected and dimmed nearby stars, but one star, Tau Ceti , has unexpectedly resisted Astrophage infection. An Astrophage-fueled starship , the Hail Mary ,
7420-489: The hippocampal regions of the brain. Because of this damage, Wearing was unable to remember information for more than a few moments. Wearing's non-declarative memory was still functioning but his declarative memory was impaired. To him, he felt that he had just come to consciousness for the first time every time he was unable to hold on to information. This case also can be used as evidence that there are different memory systems for declarative and non-declarative memory. This case
7526-416: The hippocampus has a lesion , and thus the hippocampus could not make connections to the cortex. After an ischemic episode (an interruption of the blood flow to the brain), an MRI of patient R.B. following surgery showed his hippocampus to be intact except for a specific lesion restricted to the CA1 pyramidal cells. In one instance, transient global amnesia was caused by a hippocampal CA1 lesion. While this
7632-546: The hippocampus. This case study led to important research involving the role of the hippocampus and the function of memory. Patient G.D. was a white male born in 1940 who served in the Navy. He was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure and received hemodialysis treatment for the rest of his life. In 1983, he went to the hospital for elective parathyroidectomy . He also had a left thyroid lobectomy because of severe loss of blood in his left lobe. He began having cardiac problems as
7738-477: The implications of the Internet and the expanding information universe, questions about biotechnology , nanotechnology , and post-scarcity societies . Recent trends and subgenres include steampunk , biopunk , and mundane science fiction . The first, or at least one of the first, recorded science fiction film is 1902's A Trip to the Moon , directed by French filmmaker Georges Méliès . It
7844-570: The information is non-declarative knowledge. However, in some situations, people with dense anterograde amnesia do not remember the episodes during which they previously learned or observed the information. Some people with amnesia show abnormal amount of memory loss, confusion, and difficulty recalling other people or places. People who recover often do not remember having amnesia. Declarative memory can be broken down into semantic memory and episodic memory. Semantic memory being that of facts, episodic memory being that of memory related to events. While
7950-415: The late 1940s and the 1950s are included. In 1942, Isaac Asimov started his Foundation series , which chronicles the rise and fall of galactic empires and introduced psychohistory . The series was later awarded a one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series". Theodore Sturgeon 's More Than Human (1953) explored possible future human evolution . In 1957, Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale by
8056-478: The learning of fresh non-declarative knowledge. Individuals with amnesia also retain substantial intellectual, linguistic, and social skills despite profound impairments in the ability to recall specific information encountered in prior learning episodes. The term is from Ancient Greek 'forgetfulness'; from ἀ- (a-) 'without' and μνήσις (mnesis) 'memory'. Individuals with amnesia can learn new information, particularly if
8162-402: The lists, he was still able to learn things through his implicit memory . The psychologists would ask him to draw something on a piece of paper, but to look at the paper using a mirror. Though he could never remember ever doing that task, he would improve after doing it over and over again. This showed the psychologists that he was learning and remembering things unconsciously. In some studies it
8268-408: The medial temporal lobe or to the neocortex. Some patients with anterograde amnesia can still acquire some semantic information, even though it might be more difficult and might remain rather unrelated to more general knowledge. H.M. could accurately draw a floor plan of the home in which he lived after surgery, even though he had not lived there in years. There is evidence that the hippocampus and
8374-399: The medial temporal lobe may help to consolidate semantic memories, but then they are more correlated with the neocortex. While lesions of the hippocampus normally lead to the loss of episodic memory, if there is any effect on semantic memory, it is more varied and usually does not last as long. One reason that patients could not form new episodic memories is likely because the CA1 region of
8480-456: The modern genre primarily arose in the 19th and early 20th centuries when popular writers began looking to technological progress and speculation. Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein , written in 1818, is often credited as the first true science fiction novel . Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are pivotal figures in the genre's development. In the 20th century, expanded with the introduction of space operas , dystopian literature, pulp magazines , and
8586-440: The neurosurgeon Scoville tried a new approach involving brain surgery. He removed his medial temporal lobe bilaterally by doing a temporal lobectomy. His epilepsy did improve, but Molaison lost the ability to form new long-term memories (anterograde amnesia). He exhibited normal short-term memory ability. If he was given a list of words, he would forget them in about a minute's time. In fact, he would forget that he had even been given
8692-412: The next 9.5 years until his death. After he died, his brain was donated to science, photographed, and preserved for future study. Global amnesia is a common motif in fiction despite being extraordinarily rare in reality. In the introduction to his anthology The Vintage Book of Amnesia , Jonathan Lethem writes: Real, diagnosable amnesia – people getting knocked on the head and forgetting their names –
8798-478: The novellas included in the first novel, Dragonflight , made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo or Nebula Award . In 1968, Philip K. Dick 's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was published. It is the literary source of the Blade Runner movie franchise . In 1969, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin was set on a planet in which the inhabitants have no fixed gender . It
8904-425: The operation. Researchers also found that, when asked, Molaison could answer questions about national or international events, but he could not remember his own personal memories. After his death Molaison donated his brain to science, where they were able to discover the areas of the brain that had the lesions which caused his amnesia, particularly the medial temporal lobe. This case study provided important insight to
9010-614: The play RUR , written by the Czech playwright Karel Čapek , broadcast live from the BBC's Alexandra Palace studios on 11 February 1938. The first popular science fiction program on American television was the children's adventure serial Captain Video and His Video Rangers , which ran from June 1949 to April 1955. The Twilight Zone (the original series), produced and narrated by Rod Serling , who also wrote or co-wrote most of
9116-468: The reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology ." Robert A. Heinlein wrote that "A handy short definition of almost all science fiction might read: realistic speculation about possible future events, based solidly on adequate knowledge of the real world, past and present, and on a thorough understanding of the nature and significance of the scientific method ." American science fiction author and editor Lester del Rey wrote, "Even
9222-463: The result is an engaging space odyssey." Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review , describing it as "An unforgettable story of survival and the power of friendship—nothing short of a science-fiction masterwork." In writing her review for The Washington Post , SFWA president and science fiction writer Mary Robinette Kowal mentions that there are plenty of things to love about this book, such as Grace's infectious enthusiasm for science. At
9328-579: The roots of literary amnesia to Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett , among others, fueled in large part by the seeping into popular culture of the work of Sigmund Freud , which also strongly influenced genre films such as film noir . Amnesia is so often used as a plot device in films, that a widely recognized stereotypical dialogue has even developed around it, with the victim melodramatically asking "Where am I? Who am I? What am I?", or sometimes inquiring of their own name, "Bill? Who's Bill?" In movies and television, particularly sitcoms and soap operas , it
9434-401: The same time, Kowal mentions some of the many flaws in the novel, such as the lack of the use of checklists , which are very important in the fields of aviation, astronautics, and medicine in reducing human-induced errors which Grace seems to ignore and could have prevented him from making his many errors in judgment. A reviewer for Locus Magazine wrote, " Project Hail Mary , however, isn’t
9540-577: The series gained popularity through syndication and extraordinary fan interest . It became a very popular and influential franchise with many films , television shows , novels , and other works and products. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) led to six additional live action Star Trek shows: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999), Voyager (1995–2001) , Enterprise (2001–2005), Discovery (2017–2024), Picard (2020–2023), and Strange New Worlds (2022–present), with more in some form of development. Amnesia Amnesia
9646-457: The story on board the spacecraft Hail Mary where Ryland Grace regains his memory in bursts. This story is frequently intercut with flashbacks revealing earlier events leading up to the launch of the Hail Mary . In the near future, a global dimming event is observed, coinciding with the formation of a bright line from the Sun to Venus . The exponential rate of dimming is calculated to result in
9752-624: The task later without any recollection of learning the task. According to fMRI studies, the acquisition of procedural memories activates the basal ganglia , the premotor cortex and the supplementary motor area, regions which are not normally associated with the formation of declarative memories. This type of dissociation between declarative and procedural memory can also be found in patients with diencephalic amnesia such as Korsakoff's syndrome . Another example demonstrated by some patients, such as K.C. and H.M, who have medial temporal damage and anterograde amnesia, still have perceptual priming. Priming
9858-428: The techniques used in art. She had preserved skill-related declarative memory for some things even though she had deficits in other declarative memory tasks. She even scored higher on skill-related declarative memory than the control in watercolor techniques, a technique that she used in her professional career before she acquired amnesia. The loss of semantic information in amnesia is most closely related with damage to
9964-515: The term speculative fiction to be used instead for those that are more "serious" or "thoughtful". Some scholars assert that science fiction had its beginnings in ancient times , when the line between myth and fact was blurred. Written in the 2nd century CE by the satirist Lucian , A True Story contains many themes and tropes characteristic of modern science fiction, including travel to other worlds, extraterrestrial lifeforms , interplanetary warfare, and artificial life . Some consider it
10070-490: The threat of famine and wars over food on Earth remains for the 26 years that the Hail Mary mission is expected to take. Since the crew of three astronauts will travel under a coma to avoid psychiatric issues , potential astronauts are restricted to people with coma-resistant genes, including Grace. Stratt tasks Grace to train the science experts for the mission, but the science experts are killed in an Astrophage-induced explosion shortly before launch. With no time to train
10176-503: Was a temporary case of amnesia, it still shows the importance of the CA1 region of the hippocampus in memory. Episodic memory loss is most likely to occur when there has been damage to the hippocampus. There is evidence that damage to the medial temporal lobe correlates to a loss of autobiographical episodic memory. Some retrograde and anterograde amnesiacs are capable of non-declarative memory, including implicit learning and procedural learning. For example, some patients show improvement on
10282-550: Was accomplished in many different experiments of amnesia, and it was found that the patients can be primed; they have no conscious recall of the event, but the response is there. Those patients did well in the word fragment completion task. There is some evidence that non-declarative memory can be held onto in the form of motor skills. This idea was disputed, though, because it is argued that motor skills require both declarative and non-declarative information. There are three generalized categories in which amnesia could be acquired by
10388-465: Was added to the cast as Eva Stratt in May 2024. Science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to SF or sci-fi ) is a genre of speculative fiction , which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology , space exploration , time travel , parallel universes , and extraterrestrial life . It often explores human responses to changes in science and technology. Science fiction
10494-604: Was found that H.M.'s perceptual learning was intact and that his other cognitive skills were working appropriately. It was also found that some people with declarative information amnesia are able to be primed. Studies were completed consistently throughout Molaison's lifetime to discover more about amnesia. Researchers did a 14-year follow-up study on Molaison. They studied him for a period of two weeks to learn more about his amnesia. After 14 years, Molaison still could not recall things that had happened since his surgery. However, he could still remember things that had happened prior to
10600-404: Was influential on later filmmakers , bringing a different kind of creativity and fantasy . Méliès's innovative editing and special effects techniques were widely imitated and became important elements of the cinematic medium . 1927's Metropolis , directed by Fritz Lang , is the first feature-length science fiction film. Though not well received in its time, it is now considered
10706-484: Was known for its embrace of a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content, and a highbrow and self-consciously " literary " or " artistic " sensibility . In 1961, Solaris by Stanisław Lem was published in Poland . The novel dealt with the theme of human limitations as its characters attempted to study a seemingly intelligent ocean on a newly discovered planet . Lem's work anticipated
10812-421: Was more evidence that the hippocampus is an important part of the brain in remembering past events and that declarative and non-declarative memories have different processes in different parts of the brain. Patient R.B. was a normally functioning man until the age of 52. At age 50, he had been diagnosed with angina and had surgery for heart problems on two occasions. After an ischemic episode (reduction of blood to
10918-508: Was once a suicide mission now may end with his returning to Earth. He fantasizes about confronting Stratt for coercing him to go. Grace and Rocky discover the Astrophage's home planet in orbit around Tau Ceti, which Rocky names after his mate. Grace deciding on "Adrian" as the English translation, after Adrian Pennino , the wife of the fictional Rocky Balboa (i.e., the planet is now named for this other "Rocky's mate"). The planet's atmosphere
11024-562: Was released on May 4, 2021, by Ballantine Books . It is available in hardcover, e-book , and audiobook formats. The audiobook narrated by Ray Porter uses melodic sound effects in the background whenever "Rocky" speaks. Project Hail Mary has received generally positive reviews. According to Book Marks , the book received a "positive" consensus, based on eighteen critic reviews: eight "rave", seven "positive", and three "mixed". Writing for The New York Times , sci-fi author Alec Nevala-Lee wrote "For readers who can forgive its shortcomings,
11130-502: Was still on the L.A. Times list in mid-August. In August 2021, Project Hail Mary debuted at number 1 on the Locus Bestsellers list for hardcovers while remaining at the top position for five consecutive months before dropping to a lower position while still remaining on the list for 11 consecutive months by June 2022. Bill Gates and Barack Obama added the book to their respective 2021 book recommendations. Weir sold
11236-408: Was the first of his three- decade -long planetary romance series of Barsoom novels , which were set on Mars and featured John Carter as the hero . These novels were predecessors to YA novels , and drew inspiration from European science fiction and American Western novels . In 1924, We by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin , one of the first dystopian novels, was published. It describes
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