Single-gendered worlds in science fiction : better for whom?

An excess of one gender is a regular and problematic trope in Science Fiction, instantly removing any potential tension between the two sexes while simultaneously generating new concerns. While female only societies are common, male-only societies are rarer. This is partly a true biological obstacle because the female body is capable of bringing a baby forth into the world after fertilization, or even without fertilization, so that a prospective author’s only stumbling block to accounting for the society’s potential longevity. For example, gynogenesis is a particular type of parthenogenesis whereby animals that reproduce by this method can only reproduce that way. These species, such as the salamanders of genus Ambystoma, consist solely of females which does, occasionally, have sexual contact with males of a closely related species but the sperm from these males is not used to fertilise ova. Instead, it stimulates ovum development without any exchange of genetic material. It is believed that this species has survived due to the extremely rare (perhaps one in one million matings) fertilisation of ova by sperm, allowing genetic mixing and a modicum of biodiversity due to the introduction of new material in this salamander’s gene pool. On the other hand, the male body needs to be considerably re-engineered in order to carry a baby to term, necessitating a uterus, placenta and a delivery mode/orifice. However, conception may be dispensed with through an asexual method of reproduction, such as cloning or parthenogenesis, and the gestating process may be bypassed by a postulated ectogenetic process. The latter may also serve to gestate a baby that is produced by a sexual reproduction, through the conventional recombination of a spermatozoon with an ovum, and the resulting zygote implanted in an artificial uterus in the same way that a zygote is now implanted in a uterus by in-vitro fertilisation. Yet another reason that explains why women-only worlds are commoner than men-only worlds is that a number of writers have speculated whether a world constructed on strict feminist principles might be utopian rather than dystopian, and ‘for many of these writers, such a world was imaginable only in terms of sexual separatism; for others, it involved reinventing female and male identities and interactions’. These issues have been ably reviewed in Brian Attebery’s Decoding Gender in Science Fiction (2002), in which he observes that ‘it’s impossible in real life to to isolate the sexes thoroughly enough to demonstrate […] absolutes of feminine or masculine behavior’, whereas ‘within science-fiction, separation by gender has been the basis of a fascinating series of thought experiments’. Intriguingly, Attebery poses the question that a singlegendered society is ‘better for whom’?peer-reviewe

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal : pharmacological immortality in science fiction

Immortality is a common feature in science-fiction (SF). This paper lists the ways in which the pharmacological induction of immortality has been depicted in SF, and the resultant outcomes. Immortality or extreme longevity are often melded with infertility in order to eliminate the overpopulation issues that would inevitably arise. This is only one way in which theoretical utopias which afford life extension become dystopias, cautionary tales that admonish against hubris. In this fashion, SF attempts to divine the paths that scientific discoveries or future events reveal to us, and the possible consequences that our decisions may have, whether taken advisedly and with due deliberation, or carelessly with no attempt to discern the consequences of our actions.peer-reviewe

Infertility in science fiction as a consequence of warfare

Warfare is an indissoluble aspect of humanity, and is an equally indissoluble part of mythology. Greek mythology is replete with strife between the gods themselves, allegories of human strife, and the most epic aspects were the succession myths, with the primordial couple Gaia and Ouranos overthrown by the Titans, who were, in their turn, overthrown by the Olympians. Warfare is a common trope in all branches of fiction, including science-fiction (SF), and the old pulp magazines were replete with such stories, narratives that featured exotic weapons and that often had Faustian implications, with devastating consequences. Military organisations take technological advances very seriously, as several military works show, to the extent that the ‘line between science and science fiction […] has never been totally clear. One of the earliest and most famous SF novels dealing with atomic warfare was Herbert George Wells’s The World Set Free (1914), which prefigures the misuse of atomic energy as a weapon of mass destruction. Wells was cognizant of the fact that technological development would lead to such deadly weapons as ‘[t]he history of mankind is the history of the attainment of external power. Man is the tool-using, fire-making animal’. Warfare can be nuclear, biological, chemical or cyberwarfare. And it is abundantly clear that the entire corpus of work dealing with warfare and SF is too vast to be discussed. Reginald Bretnor has made inroads into this lacuna with three anthologies that assemble both fiction and essays with regard to potential future trends in warfare of all types. Furthermore although the author of this paper is a medical doctor, even the health aspects are too great to realistically discuss in one paper. Hence, only the intersection of infertility in warfare within the genre will be analysed. The approach will thematic, and will attempt to list and taxonomise all narratives that deal with infertility inflicted by warfare in the SF. Many of the narratives now appear dated with entirely new ways of waging warfare that were too far-fetched for ‘that Buck Rogers stuff’, such as electronic warfare, since for the ‘present and for the foreseeable future, electronic systems serve and will continue to serve as the foundation of systems for the control of forces and weapons […] in all branches of the armed forces’. What follows is a brief reading of key texts, a necessarily concise exercise due to the multitude of narratives that have delved into this intersection.peer-reviewe

The last (fertile) man on earth : comedy or fantasy?

The trope of infertility in science fiction may be explored through the theme of a single fertile man remaining on earth, with the fate of the entire species devolving on this one single individual. The article will review narratives that deal with this premise, and will outline the obvious, the not so obvious, and the even potentially comic outcomes that arise from the overturning of the usual male-chasing-female paradigm.peer-reviewe

The role of clinical psychology and peer to peer support in the management of chronic medical conditions : a practical example with adults with congenital heart disease

Clinical psychology services and peer to peer support can both contribute in increasing the psychological wellbeing of patients with chronic medical conditions. In this perspective paper, indications are given about the provision these services for the specific case of adults with congenital heart disease. These patients are at an increased risk of psychological distress, neurocognitive deficits, and social challenges. The psychosocial characteristics and mental health treatment preferences of these patients are briefly described, followed by guidelines and indications for the implementation of clinical psychology services. The most structured peer to peer program available for this population is subsequently illustrated and finally, specific benefits and challenges when it comes to the integration of both services are reported

Maximal entanglement generation in spectrally distinct solid state qubits

We demonstrate how to create maximal entanglement between two qubits that are encoded in two spectrally distinct solid-state quantum emitters embedded in a waveguide interferometer. The optical probe is provided by readily accessible squeezed light, generated by parametric down-conversion. By continuously probing the emitters, the photon scattering builds up entanglement with a concurrence that reaches its maximum after O(10^1) photo-detection events. Our method does not require perfectly identical emitters, and accommodates spectral variations due to the fabrication process. It is also robust enough to create entanglement with a concurrence above 99% for 10% scattering photon loss, and can form the basis for practical entangled networks

Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Therapeutics

Currently there are relatively few antiviral therapeutics, and most which do exist are highly pathogen-specific or have other disadvantages. We have developed a new broad-spectrum antiviral approach, dubbed Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) Activated Caspase Oligomerizer (DRACO) that selectively induces apoptosis in cells containing viral dsRNA, rapidly killing infected cells without harming uninfected cells. We have created DRACOs and shown that they are nontoxic in 11 mammalian cell types and effective against 15 different viruses, including dengue flavivirus, Amapari and Tacaribe arenaviruses, Guama bunyavirus, and H1N1 influenza. We have also demonstrated that DRACOs can rescue mice challenged with H1N1 influenza. DRACOs have the potential to be effective therapeutics or prophylactics for numerous clinical and priority viruses, due to the broad-spectrum sensitivity of the dsRNA detection domain, the potent activity of the apoptosis induction domain, and the novel direct linkage between the two which viruses have never encountered.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.) (grant AI057159)New England Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious DiseasesUnited States. Dept. of Defense (Director of Defense Research & Engineering)United States. Defense Threat Reduction AgencyUnited States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agenc

Gaia beware : infertility in SF due to bioterrorism, pollution and accidental iatrogenic events

SF has widely depicted eschatological scenarios of all types since we seem to willingly ‘accept the lure of annihilation, only to discover that it is a temporary condition, a gateway to renewal and rebirth’, an omnipresent theme in legend, myth and ritual. Of these scenarios, infertility in particular is a crucial issue that afflicts many individuals, and epidemiologists estimate that the number of European couples who struggle to have children will double within a decade. One in three couples is likely to suffer infertility in ten years' time, compared with one in seven today, and this is thought to be due to the rising age at first attempt at pregnancy when fertility naturally declines, an increase in sexually transmitted diseases which damage the reproductive organs, a huge increase in obesity which is known to adversely affect fertility, and a declining level of male sperm count and overall sperm quality. This paper will limit itself to the intersection of infertility in SF with bioterrorism, pollution, and accidental iatrogenic events, all potentialities that may affect our fragile biosphere. These depictions are common in the genre, and perhaps this is because ‘catastrophism evidently makes for more compelling fictional narratives than gradualism’. Real-life parallels will be highlighted, where and when appropriate and available, by the author, who is a medical doctor. Errors that go beyond the pale of poetic licence will also be pointed out, since ‘error-free science fiction is an ideal […] impossible of achievement […] not that […] the author can be excused for not trying; unreachability is, after all, what ideals are for’. A wide variety of narrative forms are included, in a comprehensive attempt to include all such narratives, and these include not only novels, short stories and films, but also computer games and comic books.peer-reviewe