The Science of the X-Files

by Jeanne Cavelos

By pushing science to its furthest, most marvelous extremes, "The X-Files" has captivated us with stories more strange and surreal than we'd ever dreamed possible. But are they as far-fetched as they look? With the help of leading experts, scientist Jeanne Cavelos explores the scientific theories -- and supporting research -- that shed light on some of the series' most bizarre and compelling episodes.Includes scientific examinations of:
-- Could a man cause fungi to destroy everything he touched? -- How could a man made entirely of cancer cells grow back his decapitated head?
-- What sort of nutrition could be derived from a diet of human livers? -- Could a man bum up in the sun -- simply because he believes he's a vampire? -- How could a salamander hand grow on a man's body? -- Could concentrated human pheromones really make Scully do "the wild thing" with a stranger?

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Tv, Stem, Reference

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Jeanne Cavelos is a writer, editor, scientist, and teacher. She began her professional life as an astrophysicist and mathematician, working in the Astronaut Training Division at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Her love of science fiction led her to earn her MFA in creative writing. She moved into a career in publishing, becoming a senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell, where she created and launched the Abyss imprint of psychological horror, for which she won the World Fantasy Award, and the Cutting Edge imprint of literary fiction. She also ran the science fiction/fantasy publishing program. In addition, she edited a wide range of fiction and nonfiction.

In 1994, she left New York to pursue her own writing career. She is currently writing a near-future science thriller about genetic manipulation, titled Fatal Spiral. Her last novel to hit the stores was Invoking Darkness , the third volume in the best-selling trilogy The Passing of the Techno-Mages , set in the Babylon 5 universe (Del Rey). The Sci-Fi Channel called the trilogy "A revelation for Babylon 5 fans. . . . Not 'television episodic' in look and feel. They are truly novels in their own right." Her nonfiction book The Science of Star Wars (St. Martin's) was chosen by the New York Public Library for its recommended reading list, and CNN said, "Cavelos manages to make some of the most mind-boggling notions of contemporary science understandable, interesting and even entertaining." The highly praised The Science of The X-Files , (Berkley) was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Publishers Weekly called it "Crisp, conversational, and intelligent."

Her first published book, the Babylon 5 novel The Shadow Within (Dell), went out of print a few years ago and was reissued by Del Rey due to popular demand. Dreamwatch magazine called it "one of the best TV tie-in novels ever written."

Recent works include the novella "Negative Space" (which was given honorable mention in The Year's Best Science Fiction), in the anthology Decalog 5: Wonders (Virgin Publishing), and several essays: "Living with Terror: Jack Bauer as a Coping Mechanism in Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disordered America" in Jack Bauer for President , "Stop Her, She's Got a Gun!" in Star Wars on Trial , "Down the Wormhole: Cognitive Dislocation, Escalation, Pyrrhic Victory and Farscape" in Farscape Forever , and "Innovation in Horror," which appears in both On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association and The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing (Writer's Digest Books). She has published short fiction, essays, and reviews in many magazines.

The Many Faces of Van Helsing , an anthology she edited, was published by Berkley in 2004 and was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. The editors at Barnes and Noble called it "brilliant. . . . Arguably the strongest collection of supernatural stories to be released in years." Berkley is releasing a mass market paperback edition in October 2008.

Jeanne also runs Jeanne Cavelos Editorial Services, a full-service freelance company that provides editing, ghostwriting, consulting, and critiquing services to publishers, book packagers, agents, and authors. Among its clients are major publishers and best-selling and award-winning writers.

Since she loves working with developing writers, she created and serves as director of Odyssey , a six-week summer workshop for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror held annually at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. Odyssey allows developing writers to focus on their craft and receive detailed, in-depth feedback on their work. Guest lecturers include some of the top authors, editors, and agents in the field.

Reviews

[Andrew Keen · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good resource for fans of The X-Files seeking a scientific exploration of specific examples in the show, this book is like a collection of scientific discussions. It doesn't feel like it's leading to a conclusion or a climax and that makes it hard to stick with. It was published in 1998 and some subject areas, especially those about AI and bioengineered implants, are now out of date.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting science. Written in 1998, the Technology Run Amok section is now way out of date, I'm reading this 26 years later (2024). GPS is on everybody's phone, voice recognition is an app, AI is now the hot thing. Crisper now exists. The whole human genome has been mapped. But lots of cool suppositions trying to figure out how some of the stuff in X-Files really works.

[Flora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting exploration of how it might be possible or unfeasible for the phenomena that take place in the X-Files to actually happen in real-life, given the body of scientific knowledge available at the time.

[Elaine Fultz, Teacher Librarian, MLS · Rating 4 out of 5]

VOYA review late 90s

[Antoinette · Rating 1 out of 5]

*yawn* I love the X-Files, but without the smoking hot sexual tension I am not so enthusiastic.

[Lindsey]

Need to reread this now that I've seen every single episode :D