Mary Shelley wrote her novel Frankenstein in what can be considered the grey area between the romantic and gothic eras of literature. Because of this, the story functions in a similar transitional fashion, especially through its treatment of nature, science and its relationship with religion and ‘playing God’, and humanity. Throughout the story, nature and location play a scene setting role as well as aids in character development. Commonly, nature in romance literature is used as a sort of…
Conventional Meets Interesting Gryphons, or griffons, are mythological creatures with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. The new substitute teacher talks about these in the short story “Gryphon” written by Charles Baxter. This new substitute teacher comes in and disregards everything that the class had learned and done before that. Within the few days that she is there, she goes on to tell the class wild things about mythological creatures and angles that she claimed to…
Aquadvantage salmon controversy “Up to 80% of the processed foods sold in the U.S. contain GMOs”(Jane Black, 1) If ninety percent of our foods have Gmos why is it that only twenty five percent of americans think they 're safe? Aquabounty created a genetically modified fish that has been dubbed “frankenfish” by opponents of aquadvantage salmon. Aquadvantage salmon have been called “unsafe” and “dangerous”. Though there are downsides to the fish, such as their increased insulin growth factor 1…
Feminist science fiction emerged as a prominent sub-genre of science fiction at the early of the twentieth century. It deals mainly with women’s role in society. Science fiction has paved the way for female writers to present their actual subjects of sex and gender roles by exploring alternative prototypes for future societies with different beliefs and ideas. For most of these women writers, science fiction has become a very fitting tool for deliberating such taboo topics. Women writers…
Humanity’s insatiable quest for immortality, to escape the cold clutches of death, roots itself in our oldest tales. The mythical Fountain of Youth, first fabled by Herodotus’ writings in the 5th century BCE, and actively searched for by the Spanish explorer Ponce De León in the 16th century CE, idealizes our infatuation with cheating death. The opportunities generated by society’s incredible ameliorations of science and medicine yields a world ever-closer to achieving perpetual life. Fueled by…
Why are nuclear weapons tolerated given their overwhelming destructive power? This has been justified by the theory of nuclear deterrence. This theory hypothesizes that if a nation armed with nuclear weapons threatens nuclear retaliation, other countries will refrain from initiating a military attack. It began its life after Hiroshima as the threat to destroy cities. During the Cold War, nuclear deterrence preserved the peace between the two great powers by making the resort to a nuclear war…
Scientists have been interested in the difference of people’s sensation, perception, and perspective since the beginning of the 18th century. Philosopher Gustav Fechner developed an approach to study sensation and perception, called psychophysics. Psychophysics was measured by the strength of the stimulus and the observer’s sensitivity to the stimulus. Although people might be exposed to the same stimuli, they sense and perceive differently which changes their perspective. If two people are…
There are roughly thirty-seven trillion cells present in the human body. Each of these cells have a specific function to perform like propagating one’s genes or carrying oxygen towards the different parts of the body. Some of these cells make up the skeletal system which is comprised of two hundred and seven different bones. Some of these cells make up the various organs in the body like the lungs and the heart. Some of these cells are responsible for the organs responsible for procreation, the…
Introduction: The life and works of Lewis Carroll: Charles Dodgson, born in 1832 to Charles Dodgson (a clergyman) and Frances, in Daresbury, England, took the pen name, Lewis Carroll. Lewis has ten other siblings as well. “He told his brothers and sisters stories, made up games and wrote magazines with them,” (Woolf, Pg.1) says Edward Wakeling, having spent 12 years annotating Dodgson’s diaries. Lewis apparently loved to entertain children, and they loved him as well.. At eighteen, Lewis…
For centuries the Arctic Ocean has been famed for its inaccessibility, but with unprecedented ice retreats in recent years as a result of global warming, the Arctic Ocean is becoming rapidly accessible. This means new possibilities for the Arctic countries in terms of trade, travel, and access resources. These recent changes in the topography have led many to portray the Arctic as a geopolitical race for natural resources and territory, with Russia seen as the main aggressor. Russia is depicted…