I’ve always seen certain authors acknowledge a lot of the people who helped them research or fact-check throughout their story. A science fiction author, if not a scientist themselves, might have a couple Ph.D.’s or other authorities that they’re in contact with, who they can send questions to, such as “If a three-eyed, eight-tentacled alien was attacking me with its pseudopods while my spaceship flew just under the speed of light past a black hole, and my ray gun shot beams of tightly concentrated neutrons, what energy output would I require to kill the alien?”
You know. The important details.
Now, I’m not a scientist. (That nova of light you just observed was blinding flash of the obvious.) Most of what I’ve written, as far as novels go, also falls more into fantasy. I haven’t dabbled much in science fiction, partially because I didn’t have as much confidence with all the technical terms, I wasn’t interested in as much research as it might involve, and a few other things. But when I got an idea involving genetics that wouldn’t go away, I at least wanted to try my best.
Imagine my joy in finding that there are scientists out there who are ready and willing to take and answer your questions, simply for the sheer joy of spreading knowledge around.
Ask A Scientist is oriented mainly towards biology questions, but a quick look around reveals a few other online resources such MadSciNet. It’s a simple process. Go to their page. Fill in the blank with whatever question you have. Mine was along the lines of:
Is it possible to know that triggering certain genes in someone will change them in a certain way? And how much control can we have over the effects of genetic manipulation?
Their answer: Everything we are is determined by our genes. What we do not know is how the environment and our genes interact to determine what we become. Personality, emotions etc fall under this category, as do many diseases – the hardwiring is set by adulthood but the fine tuning is a consequence of our experiences (our interaction with environment). Since you cannot entirely control the environment, even if you had a lockdown on the genes themselves, you could still not control the outcome. As an example, take fingerprints. The basic ridge pattern is hardwired by our genes, but the fine friction ridges are formed from the interaction of the developing digits with the environment in the womb such as movement, growth conditions, nutrition. Even identical twins have different fingerprints.
They also have a question archive, so browse through that for all sorts of lovely scientific trivia to nibble on. It does take up to two weeks to get an answer, so if your writing research is pressed for time, maybe it would be better to get in touch with a person directly by email or phone, and who doesn’t mind getting late night calls about the possibility of time travel and living on the surfaces of stars.
What are some of your research methods/resources?
I see that smile.
Hey! I recognize one of those sites! A few years ago, my parents got this weird calendar that had a different website for every day of the year (stuff like virtual bubble wrap). One of them was madsci. I remember bacause at the time I was keeping guppies in with my newts. The newts ate the male, but the female kept having babies. I couldn’t figure it out, so I asked on madsci. Apparently, guppies (and other fishies) can store sperm. Funky, huh?
My research methods? Err . . . I dunno. If I’ve got an academic question, I can usually ask one of my professors. If the prof doesn’t know, then I go to different textbooks in the library. Then, if I remember and am interested enough, the Internet.
Kinda like seahorses? Interesting. Those weird lil’ fishies. Sad, but I kinda relegate everything under the waves to potential seafood and rarely consider it in a scientific perspective. Yum.