This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Hey everyone! Welcome to Overthinking It, a blog looking at science and pop-culture through the lens of extreme nerdery. Through superheroes, Serenity, zombies, and Zelda, I try to find the hidden science in all our favorite fandoms. For me, science extends far beyond the lab, which I will prove to you with a picture of me as He-Man.
To give you an idea of the topics I want to explore, just take a look at the geekiness already covered:
The Ocarina of Time Travel, Extra Dimensions and Branching Universes
Saving Lives in Serenity: Can a Fanboy and Physics Change a Movie?
The Mechanics of the Pull-Up (and Why Women Can Absolutely Do Them)
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Besides applying science and nerdery to pop-culture, my other passion is the communication of science. Using Superman is a fun way to learn about meteors, but there is a lot of pseudoscience out there that simply cannot be handled with kid gloves on. As a research fellow with the James Randi Educational Foundation, a non-profit resource on pseudoscience and the paranormal, I will give no quarter to junk science here. Anti-vaccine proponents, psychics, and climate change deniers beware!
That isn’t to say that we won’t have any fun. Could you catch Aquaman on a fishing line? What if you had to transcribe the entirety of Wikipedia with just one pencil? These are questions I want to answer in the next few weeks. Feel free to give your suggestions for what we should overthink, I’ll credit your idea and do my best!
You can always catch me linking out fun stuff on Twitter and Facebook, but just in case you’re not into social media, I will also post a weekly round-up of around 100 links to interesting science and pop-culture stuff from the week right here.
Oh yeah, my name is Kyle and I am a freelance science writer, science enthusiast, and all-around geek. I have degrees in engineering and communication. Feel free to get in touch with me in the comments, by sending an email to sciencebasedlife@gmail.com, or by following me on Twitter @Sci_Phile. If you are a young writer and want to try your hand at science blogging, I also run the Nature Education blog Student Voices, where you can get in touch and get a platform!
I’m honored to be a part of the Scientific American blog network, and if you like any of my stuff, be sure to peak around the rest of the site (I’d start with the Guest Blog, where I made my first posts).
Lastly, “overthinking it” is the name of the blog for two reasons. First, it’s the most common comment I get on these geek amalgamations of science and pop-culture. Second, you are banned from saying “you are overthinking it” in the comments! Win-win.
He-Man Photo Credit: Brian Engler