The Science Behind Galahad

Toward the end of 2009 I sat down to begin writing the sixth entry in the Galahad series -- the second and third books will hit bookstores this year, but the first five volumes in the series are already finished and are working their way through the publishing pipeline. (Be patient.)

Anyway, as I was flipping through the first five books and working on the outline for number six, I began to think about all of the components that make up this series. Some readers and reviewers have been kind enough to point out that The Comet's Curse and The Web of Titan have a healthy mix of action, adventure, romance and humor, and I've always been pleased by the fact that everyone seems to get something different out of the books.

But I realized that regardless of what else makes up the Galahad books, at a very basic level these are really science fiction stories -- that is, they are fictional stories that are grounded in science. And the more I thought about it the more I began to see science bursting out of nearly every chapter. Come to think of it, science is the foundation of the entire series, from a deadly comet to a high-tech spaceship to a smart-alec computer to the futuristic sport of Airboarding and beyond. And what's more, the real-life science that has inspired the Galahad series is every bit as interesting as the series itself.

From that realization was born this new series of essays: The Science Behind Galahad. Each so often I'll tackle a scientific phenomenon of some sort and take it apart, bit by bit, until we all understand it a little better. Let's dive right in, shall we?

 

Volume One: Artificial Intelligence

The term 'Artificial Intelligence', or 'AI' for short, dates way back to 1956, and the man who has long been credited with dreaming up that nifty little phrase is a computer scientist named John McCarthy -- still alive and kicking as I write these words, by the way. Good for him. Anyway, the most basic technical definition that I've found is this:

 Artificial Intelligence

 -noun; the capacity of a computer to perform operations analogous to learning and decision-making in humans

Or to boil it down even further: computers who think and reason like humans. Hmmm...

You can read the entire article as a printable PDF right here.

 

Volume Two: Comets

The Galahad book series takes place almost entirely on board a giant spaceship that is hurtling through space toward a cluster of Earth-like planets around a neighboring star. A lot happens to the teenagers of Galahad, and there's a lot riding on their mission, including the future of the human race. In fact, outside the first book there are barely any scenes at all that take place on Earth -- and they're mostly in the form of flashbacks.

Because of that, it's easy to forget that the entire story springs forth as the result of one very unlucky incident: Earth passes through the tail of a comet. Everything that happens afterward -- the virus, the construction of Galahad, the selection of the crew, and of course all the adventures that take place en route to Eos -- are a result of Earth's unfortunate rendezvous with the comet Bhaktul.

So as I sit down, fire up the laptop, and prepare to dive a bit deeper into the science behind Galahad, it seems only fair to give a little love to the heavenly body that caused all this trouble in the first place, right? Let's talk about comets...

You can read the entire article as a printable PDF right here.

 

Volume Three: Earth-like Planets

I once packed 251 teenagers aboard a massive space ship and sent them tearing across space toward a cluster of Earth-like planets in a distant solar system, all in an effort to save humanity. What's more, I did all of this from the comfort of my own basement. It started on a Tuesday. I was wearing pajamas.

Okay, perhaps I should clarify: I wrote a book series where teens were sent to colonize a new world. I didn't actually, physically shoot a bunch of kids into orbit. I'm pretty sure there are laws against that sort of thing, regardless of how comfy your pajamas are. Nevertheless, I think the idea of visiting some far-away Earth-like planet -- whether to preserve the human race or just for a little vacay -- is pretty cool, and judging by the responses I get from readers each and every week, a lot of you do, too.

The question is: what is an Earth-like planet, and are there any out there?...

You can read the entire article as a printable PDF right here.