fact or fiction
Is it science fact or science fiction? Futurism presents both sides to determine the truth.
Mike “Madman” Marcum: The Man Who Claimed He Built a Time Machine
Time travel usually belongs to science fiction, theoretical physics and films involving machines far beyond anything an ordinary person could construct at home. During the 1990s, however, a young American named Mike Marcum claimed that he had accidentally discovered something extraordinary while experimenting with high-voltage electricity. What began as a relatively simple electrical project eventually developed into Marcum's attempt to construct a machine large enough to send a human being through time.
By Alan Spencer8 days ago in Futurism
Did a Door Open at the Giant’s Causeway?
Introduction The Giant’s Causeway already looks as though somebody built it. Thousands of tightly packed stone columns form steps that run towards the sea, while others rise from the cliffs like the remains of a vast structure. It is an ideal setting for a story about a hidden door.
By Alan Spencer9 days ago in Futurism
Static Ovah the Kennebec
Linda always said Bowdoinham mornings looked like God forgot to turn the brightness up. Fog rolled in thick and low, swallowing the rivah, the trees, and half the Town Landing like it was tryin’ to erase the place one bite at a time. She stood theyah at 7:12 AM, sippin’ coffee that tasted like burnt driftwood and bad decisions, watchin’ the Kennebec breathe like some big creature sleepin’ under the surface.
By Syl De'Vil14 days ago in Futurism
No Service, All the Chaos.
The Day the Phones Went Dark At 9:17 on a Tuesday morning, every smartphone in America stopped working. Not lost service. Not low battery. Just dead—silent, blank, and unresponsive. No warning, no alert, no final ping from the universe. One moment everyone was scrolling, swiping, tapping, checking, posting. The next, every phone became a useless little slab.
By Syl De'Vil18 days ago in Futurism
Stitch: Saltwater Silence
Sara Foxgrove remembered the last normal moment of her childhood as something small and quiet. She sat on the back steps of her mother’s cabin 0n Popham Beach, peeling bark off a stick and pretending it was a wand, the kind that could call storms or open secret doors if she pointed it just right. The tide had pulled back far enough that the sandbar stretched toward Fox Island like a pale, exposed spine. Her mother, Mara, wasn’t home. Neither were her father or her brothers. They had left an hour earlier to drive into Bath for groceries and a part her father needed for the woodstove. They’d promised to be back before the tide turned. Sara had waved as the car disappeared down the dirt road, not knowing it was the last time she’d ever see them. The afternoon felt suspended, like the world was holding its breath. Even the gulls seemed quieter, circling lazily above the water as if waiting for something.
By Syl De'Vil18 days ago in Futurism
The Vacuum Has Locked Himself in the Bathroom to Cry Again. Winner in Already Here Challenge. Top Story - September 2026.
I was standing on a beach while Radika, a fantasy writer, tried to convince me that animals were people. You see, they’re writing a book about mermaids—people-fish—and I think they may have lost sight of the line where reality tips into fantasy. What they mean when they say animals are people, I think, is that they believe animals have souls. I argued that what makes people people is not the soul. But when I try to articulate what makes a human a human, I am left with some lame quip about opposable thumbs and taxes.
By Aubrey Rebecca21 days ago in Futurism
AI and I
Writing about AI here on Vocal feels a bit too easy a choice for this challenge, but there's a reason I decided to go ahead with this piece. Frankly, I was a bit surprised when I considered how I feel about it these days. I've developed a love/hate relationship with the technology. (There I go, personifying it already, and that's one of the things I hate about it.)
By Dana Crandell21 days ago in Futurism
