
Captain America vs. Thanos: Who's on the Side of Science?
The newly released film Avengers: Endgame can help us make sense of some real-world biotechnology
E. Paul Zehr is professor of neuroscience and kinesiology at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. His research focuses on the neural control of arm and leg movement during gait and recovery of walking after neurotrauma. His recent pop-sci books include "Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero (2008)", "Inventing Iron Man: The Possibility of a Human Machine (2011)", "Project Superhero (2014)", and "Chasing Captain America: How Advances in Science, Engineering and Biotechnology Will Produce a Superhuman (2018)". In 2012 he won the University of Victoria Craigdarroch Research Communications Award for Knowledge Mobilization and in 2015 the Science Educator Award from the Society for Neuroscience. Project Superhero won the 2015 Silver Medal for teen fiction from the Independent Book Sellers of North America. Paul is also a regular speaker at San Diego International Comic-Con, New York Comic-Con, and Wonder Con. He has a popular neuroscience blog "Black Belt Brain" at Psychology Today.
The newly released film Avengers: Endgame can help us make sense of some real-world biotechnology
Modifying the human germline has profound implications and must be approached with extraordinary care
The Marvel hero's origin story has implications for human adaptation to living on other planets
Performance-enhancing substances such as steroids can still have an effect after athletes stop using them
In my pop-sci writing, mainly here, at Psychology Today, and in the books Becoming Batman and Inventing Iron Man, I use superheroes as foils for communicating science.
Rocket Racoon is a stand out character in Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel's rebooted comic series, which was adapted into a movie that came out August 1.
"Mutants became objects of fear and hatred." — Kitty Pryde narrating in the story "Days of Future Past" found in The Uncanny X-Men #141 in January 1980 "In her DNA they found the key to her mutant power." — Professor X musing about how Mystique was used to derive special powers for the Sentinel army [...]..
"Get your mechanized mitts in the air!" — Spider-Man to Rhino in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014 Sony Pictures) Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and appearing initially in a story by Lee with art by Jack Kirby in Amazing Fantasy #15 in August of 1962, Spider-Man has been a hugely popular and ever [...]..
"Put him back on ice..." -- Evil Hydra scientist Arnim Zola speaking about Bucky Barnes in Captain America: The Winter Soldier There's a great convergence of activities occurring right now...
The fictional Iron Man exoskeleton debuted in Tales of Suspense #39 in 1963 and was conceived, designed, created, and piloted by “world’s greatest engineer” Tony Stark.
“[Wolverine’s] mutation…He has uncharted regenerative capabilities, enabling him to heal rapidly…” Dr. Jean Grey to Cyclops and Professor Charles Xavier in the Marvel movie “X-Men” (2000) Wolverine was created, designed, and drawn by Len Wein, John Romita Sr., and Herb Trimpe and had his full comic book debut in “The Incredible Hulk” #181 in November [...]..
“[Wolverine’s] mutation…He has uncharted regenerative capabilities, enabling him to heal rapidly…” Dr. Jean Grey to Cyclops and Professor Charles Xavier in the Marvel movie “X-Men” (2000) Wolverine was created, designed, and drawn by Len Wein, John Romita Sr., and Herb Trimpe and had his full comic book debut in “The Incredible Hulk” #181 in November of 1974...
As an infant, the Man Of Steel escaped Krypton’s red sun in a rocket lovingly prepared for him by his parents. Kal-L (but more commonly known as Kal-El) arrived under our yellow sun in Smallville to eventually become Clark Kent...
“Undergoing the Extremis Procedure remade my body from the inside out. Long story short, my body was turned into a kind of computer designed to interface with the Iron Man.
At the risk of stating the obvious, a key component of Iron Man’s mythology is the suit of armor. And all the science and engineering research and development that Tony Stark has poured into that suit—and related technology—through Stark Industries.With the next Marvel Studies movie (“Iron Man 3”) coming up in May, I thought this was a good time to reflect back on the Armored Avenger and some of the key moments in his last half century of life...
“Years of rigorous athletic training have enabled the Batman not only to resist but to recover from the brutal beating that would have mortally injured most men!” Comment in “Professor Strange’s fear dust” from Detective Comics #46, December 1940 “Wayne swaps the brace to his bad knee...
When I first started reading comic books there were many superheroes that interested me. Naturally the list included Batman, Iron Man, Daredevil, Captain America, Thor, Nova, the Flash, the Black Panther, the Phantom, and lots more.What I enjoyed best of all were team ups where you got more heroes per page...
[In 2008, JR Minkel interviewed me about my first book “ Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero ” and produced the scientificamerican.c
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