In this Oct. 12, 2012, photo, Southern Illinois University Professor Jim Garvey teaches a class on campus in Carbondale, Ill. Professor Garvey, who started a conservation biology course three years ago at SIU, came up with a unique method of teaching it. His combined his knowledge and experience with science with his personal passion for writing to pen a science fiction novel, “The Platform.” In the story, Earth is a struggling environment, abused and neglected for centuries. Human and their allies in the known universe explore space and time seeking a new place to establish a home, modifying the atmospheres of different planets — known as “terra-forming” — to meet their selfish needs.(AP Photo/The Southern, Paul Newton)