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Science and science fiction are commonly regarded as spheres distinct and completely separate. However, through a careful analysis, we can see that the imagination of science fiction and representations of science in popular culture all contribute not only to the dissemination of ideas that society produces on science, but often also to the work and strategies of scientists themselves.

Representations of science and technology in popular culture can in fact be understood as “liminal cultural spaces” in which ideas and images of the “official” and legitimate science are combined and mixed with different cultural codes, which are proper to narrative inventions of film, to stereotypes of advertising and even to the rhetoric of marketing of large technology companies.

To develop this reflection on the relationship between science, society and cultural processes, the book reconstructs the debate of the studies on representations of science and technology in popular culture and went on to analyze some specific examples of representations of science and technology in contemporary media streams: nanotechnology in the cinema, science and technology in advertising, and meanings and messages about the technologies of Apple Steve Jobs.