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Campaign Case Study: The World’s Smallest Whisky Bar from Cask 88

Bartender Mark Young, and bagpiper Grant MacLeod outside the World's Smallest Whisky Bar (Photo credit: Tom McCormick) To mark the opening of a new office and brand home in central Edinburgh, award-winning independent

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
3 min read

Campaign Case Study: Braeburn Whisky Sponsorship of Annual Tartan Parade in the Big Apple

As whisky cask investment specialists Braeburn Whisky prepared to open new markets for cask investment in the United States, they made a splash by sponsoring events at New York Tartan Week 2022 -

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
3 min read
Science Fiction

'Exploring the Technoscientific Imaginary': Interview with Anna McFarlane of the Science Fiction and the Medical Humanities Project

For the past year, Anna McFarlane has been Research Assistant for the Science Fiction and the Medical Humanities research project at The University of Glasgow. The project is funded by the Wellcome Trust

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
7 min read
Social Media

'Breaking the Internet': Social Media Society in Dave Eggers' The Circle

Some of world's most popular celebrities of the moment have built their success through documenting their lives on reality TV or social media. Offering your lifestyle unreservedly as a product for others to

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
7 min read
Elon Musk

Roads? Where We're Going We Don't Need Roads

A train without wheels, which hovers above the track on a cushion of air, sounds like the stuff of science fiction. Such a train wouldn't have to contend with the force of friction,

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
5 min read
Star Wars

A Space Western & A Political Drama (Dragons Included)

With figures for the highly-anticipated latest installment The Force Awakens smashing box office records, Star Wars seems to have brought Science Fiction to the mass market. Having overtaken previous record-holder Avatar, Star Wars

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
3 min read
H G Wells

The Answer To The Riddle Before Your Eyes

Inspired by the work of Charles Darwin, Finnish symphonic metal group Nightwish's latest album, Endless Forms Most Beautiful is 'an equal tribute to science and the power of reason', exploring the theory of

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
14 min read
Science Fiction

Science Fiction At The 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival

Earlier this week, new Artistic Director Mark Adams announced the details of the programme for the 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival. Now in its 69th edition, the festival will run from 17 -

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
5 min read
Astronomy

A Drop In The Ocean: Progress M 59's Fall Back To Earth

On the evening of the 7th May 2015, while the UK was in a frenzy about the general election, the unmanned Russian spacecraft Progress M 59 was plummeting back towards Earth. A malfunction

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
5 min read
Case Study

A Theory Of Love: De Clérambault's syndrome In McEwan's Enduring Love

When reading fiction, the reader prepares to experience a product of the author's imagination, including characters, encounters and locations that do no exist. When reading fantasy and science fiction, we expect to be

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
6 min read
Atoms

Three Quarks For Muster Mark!

What's in a name? The naming of scientific principles and discoveries can be a challenging one. The need to convey concise information through a name must be balanced with the likelihood that the

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
4 min read
Glasgow Film Festival

Are Video Games Becoming More 'Cinematic'?

Rab Florence’s Video Game Empty is a highly anticipated event at Glasgow Film Festival and a rare opportunity for video games to be appreciated on the big screen, highlighting their increasingly cinematic

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
4 min read
Astronomy

In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

Glenn Freemantle won an Oscar in Sound Design for his work on Gravity. I had the pleasure of hearing him talk about his work at Glasgow Film Festival 2015, including what it's like

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
4 min read
Astronomy

Path Of The Valkyries

The aurora has long been a source of myth and legend, a mysterious light show in the heavens. There are still aspects behind this phenomenon that are a mystery and its infrequent appearances

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
9 min read
Bioengineering

Ghost Heart

Decellularisation methods could provide organs to relieve an over-subscribed waiting list for solid organ transplant and reduce the demand for immunosuppressive drugs. (This is an abridged version of an article I wrote in

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
4 min read
Ghosts

Unfinished Business

Many of us, at some point in our lives, have witnessed a 'ghostly' encounter. It may have been resolved - revealed as the trailing fingers of a tree's branches in the wind, or

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
11 min read
Astrobiology

The International Space Station - A Life Raft For Micro-Organisms?

Russian astronauts collecting samples during a recent spacewalk from the International Space Station (ISS) may have stumbled upon something surprising. Having taken samples from illuminators and the surface of the space station, they

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
4 min read
Bioengineering

Community, Identity, Stability - Social Control In Huxley's 'Brave New World'

Ridley Scott has had a successful relationship with Science Fiction, notably through the 'Alien' series and his adaptation of Dick's 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' into the cult-classic 'Bladerunner'. He has

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
12 min read
Supernatural

Devil On Your Back - Sleep Paralysis

Have you ever woken to find you're unable to move or call out, maybe with the feeling that there is someone else in the room? If so, you may have experienced a condition

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
9 min read
Bioengineering

Growing Meat In A Laboratory, Part II

This is Part II in a series of articles about in vitro meat and how it has been portrayed in fiction. You can find Part I here, or jump straight in if you're

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
7 min read
Bioengineering

Growing Meat In A Laboratory, Part I

We live in a world of injustice, where millions of people in the Western world are overweight and suffering from related health problems while millions more are starving. Farming of livestock is criticised

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
10 min read
Alternating Current

Concerning Tesla

Last week saw the commemorative birthday of a man who has made many invaluable contributions to science, yet was sadly poorly recognised for his efforts during his lifetime. The 10th July 2014 marked

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
7 min read
Harry Potter

Of Sirens And Selkies, Part II

This is Part II of an article covering the science of mermaids. In Part I, I noted the depiction of mermaids through history and identified some biological features of humans that would help

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
8 min read
Atmosphere

Conquering The Red Planet

Dutch Project ‘Mars One’ has gained media attention recently for its ambitious plans to colonise Mars in just under a decade’s time. (Please note that this is an abridged version of an

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
4 min read
Harry Potter

Of Sirens And Selkies, Part I

All the prominent creatures of mythology seem to go through a period when they are in vogue, usually thanks to a YA (Young Adult) readership providing a cult-like and enthusiastic following for a

  • Miriam Rune
    Miriam Rune
7 min read
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