If you ’re obsessed with science fiction , researchers at the University of Glasgow take your help.io9reports that researcher are found anew projectentitled “ Science Fiction and the Medical Humanities , ” which will wait at the style medical themes and representations in scientific discipline fiction can assist us better understand medicine in real life . As part of the labor , they ’re build a crowdsourced database of sci - fi flick , tv set shows , and novels to which anyone can resign entropy .
So far , the database only has a smattering of entries — there are five movies and 45 novels listed — so researchers are asking science fiction scholars and devotee to fill in the blanks by submitting bibliographic data for relevant media . The only requirement is that entries deal , in some way , with medical paper . Otherwise , no entranceway is too honest-to-god or too new , too lowbrow or too obscure to merit a place in the database . So whether you ’re a fan of respected author like Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury or the variety of low budget B - movies that wound up onMystery Science Theater 3000 , researchers need you tosubmit .
While “ Science Fiction and the Medical Humanities ” is an undoubtedly fun project , it serves a serious purpose : Researchers desire aesculapian science fiction stories can help real - life medical practitioners considerably address ethical questions . “ Science fable asks the question ‘ what if ? ’ which can help to consider about ethics in a more humane agency , ” researcher Anna McFarlane tells io9 . “ What if we could give someone tops powers by depriving them of atomic number 8 , as materialise to Deadpool ? … What if moneyed masses had perfect and pure approach to health care while the 99 percent suffered as inElysium ? All of these questions can help multitude involve in the medical industry to think about the consequences of their activeness , and how medicament might develop in the time to come . ”
[ h / tio9 ]
Know of something you think we should cover ? netmail us attips@mentalfloss.com .
