A scientist notes the discovery of a new chemical compound with physics-defying capabilities.

On a train ride to a metallurgical conference in Chicago, a consultant tries to avoid the debate between pure and applied sciences, but he cannot avoid it when he gets cornered in the washroom by two professors and an undecided bright new recruit.

When a physics professor reaches the cusp of his greatest work, he pressures his friend into sharing research information and lands himself into trouble with the U.S. military.

While attending a science convention in Hollywood, a physicist begins to notice similarities between quantum theory and her own life.

A young alien scientist joins forces with other archaeologists to uncover the secrets of a race that died out many years ago.

Days after announcing an invention that will change the fabric of his futuristic world, an inventor goes missing and two detectives must find out where he is and what his supposedly groundbreaking invention was.

A series of journal entries based in the far future mark a middle-aged female scientist’s descent into Adamancy: a disordered obsession with diamantine structures on Neptune that, when melted, allow for instantaneous travel through space. The diaries, alongside reportage on the creation of “the Melee,” or teleportation technology from these diamonds, tell the story of the scientist’s entrapment by her colleague— and her attempted escape.

A catalog of the tools different alien species use to read and write, leading to fundamental questions about what it means to make patterns of knowledge against the noise of the universe.

Three very different people—a vulgar comedian, an eloquent Cambridge graduate with a chemistry doctorate, and a proud historian—deliver three speeches posthumously honoring the same chemist and lend comic but profound insight into the recipient's multi-faceted character and contributions.

The first manned trip to Pluto discovers some fascinating and alarming information. A trip to Pluto uncovers information that changes science and human history as we know it.