Science in Fiction (#21): The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid

Welcome to this month's Science in Fiction feature! Science in Fiction is a meme I created to showcase the wonderful aspects of science in Young Adult fiction novels. For more information and previous feature, check out the "Science in Fiction" tag!

This month, I'm featuring The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid!

Review | Swoon Thursday

The Diabolic is the story of Nemesis, a Diabolic whose sole life purpose is to protect the human to which she is linked. Diabolics are basically super advanced forms of humans, but everyone seems them as dangerous creatures, with superhuman strength and intelligence, almost robot-like and animalistic. They are raised in cages and are avoid of most human emotions. But as Nemesis enters a new world of scheming and politics, she finds that she isn't quite so different from humans as she has always been led to believe. This novel is a space opera, set among different planetary colonies in a galaxy.

Non-human beings and various planets are no strangers to my Science in Fiction posts. I've talked about both topics extensively. The very last Science in Fiction post that I did was all about human-esque alien species. They don't exist (they we know), but it's an interesting thought. We also haven't really perfected traveling from planet to planet. 

So today, I'm going to share some current events in space-related missions and exploration! There have been quite a few developments since I last did a current events post.

- A new Antares rocket is going to be launched, either today or tomorrow! This Orbital ATK Antares rocket is part of the Cygnus to take supplies to the International Space Station. Hopefully all will go well (unlike two years ago). 

See pictures of this massive rocket HERE.

- Scientists are planning to launch a new nation state - in space. This is supposedly going to be a pacifist nation, like no-man's land... let's see how long that lasts (if this even happens). Human beings are too stupid (or smart?) to leave something along without claiming it or fighting over it. This new nation is going to be called Asgardia, and apparently thousands of people have signed up to be screened, to live there. o_o The first satellite for this new nation will launch next year.

- A quantum internet could be in our future - and could revolutionize communication deep space. The engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab have been busy! They've discovered and are developing quantum teleportation. I don't really know much about this field, but hey, that's cool. The plan is to use the detectors for communication on the International Space Station and in deep space - which is great! 

- China's space station is going to fall to Earth in 2017. Allegedly, their scientists have lost control of the space station, but they say that most of the space station will burn up before it hits Earth. There is no way to know where the debris will land.

- NASA postulates that water vapor plumes are shooting from the surface of Europa (one of Jupiter's moons). That's kind of awesome! That could means something in terms of microbial life on Europa. Europa's top layer is completely ice, but scientists have long speculated that underneath the ice is an ocean, and now, perhaps a habitable ocean.

- In not-so-cool news, it's possible that astronauts exploring Mars could be putting themselves at risk for dementia. The exposure to space, the energy of space, and so on... it makes sense. But this is also sad because this is yet another obstacle that would make traveling in space very difficult for humans.

Questions for readers - Does anything here surprise you? Would you live on Asgardia, or other planetary colonies, states, or even moons?