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{{quote| ''"When you're a recovering mad scientist, you're always afraid you'll lose control and wake up some morning with a half-built time machine in the living room and a plan to go back in time and pants [[Hitler]]."''}}
'''''[http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/ A Miracle of Science]''''' is a [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness/World of Phlebotinum|science fiction]] [[Web Comic]] written by Jon Kilgannon and drawn by Mark Sachs. It ran for 435 strips from 2002 to 2007.
▲''[http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/ A Miracle of Science]'' is a [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness/World of Phlebotinum|science fiction]] [[Web Comic]] written by Jon Kilgannon and drawn by Mark Sachs. It ran from 2002 to 2007 and was set [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|in the year 2148]], when humanity has spread across the solar system from Venus to Ganymede, and robotics and artificial intelligence are well developed, advanced sciences. Also of note is the science of memetics, which can be used to treat (or cause) psychological issues. Of key importance in the story is one specific meme, [[Science-Related Memetic Disorder]] (or, more colloquially, [[Mad Scientist|mad science]]).
Key characters include Benjamin Prester, a field agent of the Vorstellen Police, a law-enforcement agency specializing in SRMD; Caprice Quevillion, a Martian forensic psychiatrist assigned as his partner; and Virgil Haas, the [[Mad Scientist]] they attempt to capture. The story opens not long after Mars, a [[Crystal Spires and Togas|utopian]] [[Hive Mind|group intelligence]], has ended a century of self-imposed isolation.
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Given its Mad Scientist motif, one should expect that a significant number of tropes appear as important plot points in the comic. In fact, given the science of memetics, the characters themselves use tropes (common examples being the [[Chase Scene]] and the [[Denouement]]) as psychological aids when dealing with mad scientists.
Kilgannon and Sachs went on to collaborate on a second
{{tropenamer}}
* [[Science-Related Memetic Disorder]]: The name of the mad science disease.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absent Aliens]]: Mars' version of SETI turns up with lots of aliens... {{spoiler|but they're all dead. By at least a thousand years. "You've got to love existential angst on a planetary level..."}}
* [[Anti-Villain]]: Yes, Virgil Haas is a [[Mad Scientist]]. Yes, he wants to take over the world. But he'd rather not kill anyone to do it. Like {{spoiler|the crews of the civilian ships with which he could have rammed the first ''Qin''.}}
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* [[Badass Boast]] "Oh come on! I've plunged down from orbit on ''wings of fire''... so don't ''even'' think ''you'' can scare me!" Benjamin has a longer version of this boast as well.
* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Benjamin wears one most of the time.
*
* [[Big Guy, Little Guy]]: Dryden and Chaucer, respectively, are a robotic version and thus able to take the trope to new heights.: Chaucer is the size and shape of a hamster ball; Dryden is several times bigger than a human.
* [[Black Eyes of Evil]]: Minus the "evil" part. See the [[Voice of the Legion]] entry below.
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* [[Genki Girl]]: Wei Quevillion, as the protagonists comment on [http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos166.html this page].
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: The Pindars, which [http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos393.html gets on Chaucer's nerves at one point]:
{{quote|
'''Pindar-Two''': I'm going to take that as a compliment. }}
* [[Genius Loci]]: The Martian people form a collective consciousness.
{{quote|
'''Benjamin''': That's like saying "''Brazil'' has decided you're ''cute''." }}
* [[Genre Savvy]]: The entire science of memetics relies on this. {{spoiler|The Vorstellen Police catches mad scientists by knowing exactly how they will react to certain situations.}}
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* [[Mental Fusion]]: See [[Hive Mind]], above.
* [[Nanomachines]]: The main source of the Martians' advanced technology.
* [[People's Republic of Tyranny]]: The People's Republic of the Moon, a drab-looking lunar colony that's heavily implied to be a Communist state (USSR imitation), at least at the time of flashback. It's mentioned that they've got a picture of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavrentiy_Beria| Beria]{{Dead link}}, head of Stalin's [[Secret Police]], on at least one denomination of their money, which suggests something about what they value.
* [[Plot Technology]]: subverted. When mad scientists are captured, their inventions and research are used for the benefit of society as a whole.
* [[The Rant]]: Reading Jon and Mark's columns is strictly optional, but they offer a bit more insight into the comic's world and also occasional scientific lectures.
* [[Redheaded Hero]]: Benjamin.
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Fabula and Syuzhet, color-coded little ball-shaped robots from the Martian Constabulary -- or rather, AIs seen operating a swarm of color-coded robots.
{{quote|'''Prester''': Um... which one of you guys is ''Fabula''?
'''Six red robots''': Officer Fabula, at your service.
'''Prester''': And which is ''Syuzhet''?
'''Six blue robots''': Yo.
'''Prester''': I've been on Mars for five minutes, and already my brain hurts.}}
* [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?]]: See [[Badass Boast]] above.
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* [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]]: Benjamin Prester, Caprice Quevillion, and even Virgil Haas are or become unwilling to kill innocents. How well they stick by this rule during a disaster tells quite a bit about their resistance to [[Villainous Breakdown|Breakdown]], and in Prester's case, [[Character Development]].
* [[Tome of Eldritch Lore]]. While not mentioned directly in the plotline, it's mentioned in the site's glossary that the book ''Crank Theories of Robotics'' is a known cause of SRMD; effectively, one can become a [[Mad Scientist]] simply by reading it. Doctor Haas is seen with it in the prologue.
* [[Voice of the Legion]]: Whenever the Martian group mind speaks through one of its members. Said member simultaneously acquires [[Black Eyes of Evil]]: minus the "evil" part.
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Caprice immediately calls Benjamin out on his plan to escape Haas' attack on their ship by blasting up five civilian ships and killing a few hundred people. {{spoiler|This may or may not have been foreshadowing.}}
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Sci Fi Webcomics]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
[[Category:Web Comics of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Completed Web Comics]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miracle of Science, A}}
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