Science fiction doesn’t just predict. Science fiction influences. — When an exhausting day comes to a close, when our mind seeks for a way out of our worldly troubles, when time stretches on with no end in sight — we turn to what relaxes us the most. We look to escape into somebody else’s life, to dive into problems…

The fantasies of a university student learning to live away from home — After a whole year spent withering away in my bed, consuming books mindlessly just to feel something in the middle of a pandemic, and unconsciously blocking off all thoughts of my future, receiving the acceptance letter to study at one of the most prestigious universities in Pakistan jolted me awake…

Writing a character who sounds drab? It doesn’t take much to bring your story to life. — Every writer knows that the character who’s been living in their heads rent-free for years and the character who finally makes it to the page are not one and the same. Often, we tend to polish them up to such an extent that they no longer appear human. They are…

Often, we’re asked to do impossible things, but we don’t need to — Medium, like any other platform for writers, is full of writing advice. You need to read ten articles to find one that sounds legit. You need to read another twenty to find one that works for you. Because, often, what worked for the writer may not work for the reader. …

Fall, nostalgia, loss: a poem — The days of warmth I still remember, the moments of boredom and deep slumber; the way we used to camp in a small number; and the songs we sang around the dying ember. Every laughter we shared all those years ago, all those jokes we cracked every second or so, and the…

The story of an immigrant Muslim woman who changed the world — It was in the spring of her youth that Fatima al-Fihri came to an awful realization: her beloved hometown did not want her there anymore. The city of Qairawan, her birthplace, was chasing her — and a thousand others like her — away with its unbearable taxes. Fatima al-Fihri (800–880…

These 3 cosmic mysteries have puzzled scientists for decades — From the very beginning of time, the universe has been expanding. The stars and the galaxies and the black holes are accelerating away from each other, while we struggle by in our daily activities, caught up in our mundane problems. …

Forget Newton. You want to know who made revolutionary discoveries? — We all know of how Columbus explored the Americas (killing thousands of natives in the process, but that’s another story), of how Newton discovered gravity as an apple fell off a tree, of how Galileo improved the telescope (yes, improved not invented) and discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter. …

No, uncle, it WAS like this in your time too. Stop blaming Gen Z. —