Scientists help put fact into fantasy

THREE scientists from Warrington’s STFC Daresbury Laboratory have contributed to a new collection of short stories to help put facts before fantasy in science fiction.
“When it all Changed”, edited by novelist Geoff Ryman brings together scientists from institutions across the UK – including Daresbury – and science fiction writers.
Ryman, a senior creative writing lecturer at The University of Manchester, paired off literary colleagues with scientists to produce the book of short stories published by Comma Press.
Three scientists working at STFC Daresbury Laboratory, and one from the neighbouring Cockcroft Institute for Accelerator Science and Technology, were among 14 who helped the authors to write the stories, and add a fascinating insight into the science. The scientific collaborators from STFC Daresbury Laboratory and the Cockcroft Institute were:
• Dr Richard Blake, Director of STFC’s Computational Science and Engineering Department at Daresbury Laboratory.
• Dr Manolis Pantos, who until recently had lead heritage and archaeological science research at STFC Daresbury Laboratory.
• Professor Andrew Bleloch, Liverpool University and Director or the SuperSTEM facility at Daresbury Laboratory.
• Dr Rob Appleby, Physicist at CERN in Switzerland and a lecturer at the Cockcroft Institute.
Geoff Ryman said: “We wanted to go out and locate what is fresh and new in the sciences, and give writers a chance to work with researchers to come up with different, contemporary themes.”