This article appears in print in the December 2018 issue. Click here to subscribe.

Ok, what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Asians in science fiction”? Anyone other than Star Trek’s Sulu? The Wing Luke’s exhibit Worlds Beyond Here might enlighten you about Asian Pacific Americans’ contributions to this branch of pop culture—and the ways they rethink the genre as allegories of, as the museum puts it, “identity, immigration and race, technology, morality and the human condition.” (Yes, some of George Takei’s Star Trek memorabilia will be on display.)

Meanwhile, in his recent book, Light of the Stars, New York–based (but University of Washington–educated), astrophysicist Adam Frank replaces fiction with speculation, examining how research into alien civilizations might shed light on our own. (Especially if we discover evidence of an extinct civilization.) Expect climate change to weigh heavily in his related Pacific Science Center lecture for its Science in the City series.

Worlds Beyond Here: Through 9/15/2019. Times and prices vary. Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Chinatown–International District, 719 S King St.; 206.623.5124.

Adam Frank: 12/18. 7–9 p.m. $5. Pacific Science Center, Seattle Center, 200 Second Ave. N; 206.443.2001.