The Science of Star Wars
Droids, lightsabers and the Force return to theaters August 15th in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Get the lowdown on the science behind it all.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Animated Film Comes to Theaters
It may have come from George Lucas's imagination, but there's plenty of science to be found in Jedis and droids hopping between planets
When Clones Attack: Q&A with Clone Wars Director David Filoni
See the softer, more digital side of Jedi Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Clone Wars
The Science of Star Wars: The Clone Wars--Q&A with Author Jeanne Cavelos
How close has science brought us to clone armies squaring off against blaster-wielding droids?
![<i>Star Wars: The Clone Wars</i>: A Sneak Peek [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/52E03BEE-DE8D-44AC-BFA451E50741C417_agenda.jpg?w=275&h=154&fit=crop)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: A Sneak Peek [Slide Show]
Get a first look at Anakin, Obi-Wan and a young Jedi trainee as they prepare to do battle with a new enemy in The Clone Wars
The Science of Star Wars
Excerpts from the book by Jeanne Cavelos
![Top 10 Exoplanets: Weird Worlds in a Galaxy Not So Far Away [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/34D53C5E-6371-48EF-B1F00498DA539E4C_agenda.jpg?w=275&h=154&fit=crop)
Top 10 Exoplanets: Weird Worlds in a Galaxy Not So Far Away [Slide Show]
A look at some of our extreme planetary neighbors right here in the Milky Way Galaxy
How Do Artists Portray Exoplanets They've Never Seen?
How realistic are images of planets around other stars—and should they be? CLICK HERE FOR AN IMAGE GALLERY
I, Clone
The Three Laws of Cloning will protect clones and advance science
Is It Time to Give Up on Therapeutic Cloning? A Q&A with Ian Wilmut
The creator of Dolly the sheep has ended his focus on somatic cell nuclear transfer, or cloning, in favor of another approach to create stem cells
Space Wars - Coming to the Sky Near You?
A recent shift in U.S. military strategy and provocative actions by china threaten to ignite a new arms race in space. But would placing weapons in space be in anyone's national interest?
Monkey Think, Robot Do
A rhesus monkey uses thought to make a robot walk, paving the way for paralysis victims to move using brain-powered prosthetic limbs
A Bus Between the Planets
Gravity-assist trajectories between Earth and Mars would reduce the cost of shuttling human crews and their equipment
The World's First Flying Saucer: Made Right Here on Earth
A University of Florida researcher has plans on the drawing board for a saucer-shaped aircraft that turns the surrounding air into fuel
Voyaging to the Stars on a Solar Breeze: Space Sail to Take Flight
New approaches to space sail technology could give a much-needed push to interplanetary, and even interstellar, travel
Power for a Space Plane
Creating a revolutionary jet engine that could propel a space plane to orbit affordably and routinely is a tough but seemingly achievable task
Robotics Prof Sees Threat in Military Robots
But are the dangers as overplayed as the Pentagon's dreams of robot battalions?
Android Science
Hiroshi Ishiguro makes perhaps the most humanlike robots around--not particularly to serve as societal helpers but to tell us something about ourselves
Can a Robot, an Insect or God Be Aware?
Our intuitions about consciousness in other beings and objects reveal a lot about how we think
The Elusive Goal of Machine Translation
Statistical methods hold the promise of moving computerized translation out of the doldrums
The Truth and the Hype of Hypnosis
Though often denigrated as fakery or wishful thinking, hypnosis has been shown to be a real phenomenon with a variety of therapeutic uses -- especially in controlling pain
The Color of Plants on Other Worlds
On other worlds, plants could be red, blue, even black
Are Aliens Among Us?
In pursuit of evidence that life arose on Earth more than once, scientists are searching for microbes that are radically different from all known organisms
The Will to Win
More and more athletes are engaging in mental workouts to give themselves that extra edge
News Bytes of the Week—Lightsaber to fly on shuttle
Stem cells mend broken rat hearts, stone cold sober astronauts and more…
NASA's Flimsy Argument for Nuclear Weapons
Nukes will not be needed to guard against dangers from space
A Robot in Every Home
The leader of the PC revolution predicts that the next hot field will be robotics
Beam Weapons Get Real
Solid-state lasers near battlefield deployment