A five-part series that tries to explain how to make the science of Star Trek real…

Probably the most fascinating idea that Star Trek popularized was the idea of a warp drive. This was a concept from golden age sci-fi that went mainstream via Trek as space-age audiences became sophisticated enough to realize that NASA’s fastest rockets wouldn’t take you very far in a human lifetime. Even going the speed of light wouldn’t work for a show that tried to visit more than one star system in it’s 3 season run (due to time dilation your characters could visit those places, but their friends back on earth would be long dead). What was needed was a (plot) device that allowed you to visit distant planets in the time it takes to drive to the next state.

Since Star Trek, warp drive has become a part of public consciousness. It’s a theoretical form of technology that some feel is as inevitable as AI and teleportation.

There’s one big catch; while AI (or something that acts like it) seems to be a problem solved at some point on a graph projecting the development of intelligent systems and teleportation seems to be more of an energy problem, there’s not a viable theory for how a warp drive could work (exotic matter, worm holes, Alcubierre drives etc.) that doesn’t violate the laws of physics (as we know them) or result in some equation balancing phenomenon like a “quantum scream” (an obscure term used in an equally obscure paper on the subject).
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A five-part series that tries to explain how to make the science of Star Trek real…

In an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation called the “The Chase” a long running problem in Star Trek was finally solved – Why do all the aliens in Star Trek look humanoid. The answer was not “budget”. It was that a race that lived 4.5 billion years ago seeded the galaxy with its DNA. Humans, Vulcans, klingons etc., all got their imprint from them. We kind of look like each other because we all look like some alien race from 4.5 billion years ago. Problem solved. But is Intelligent Design really a satisfying answer?

If we find aliens that look like us, what other explanations could account for them?

Kidnapping
Having to deal with a slightly more sophisticated audience that grew up watching Star Trek, the producers of Stargate and the producers of the television series had to come up with a simple explanation for there being humans all over the galaxy in present day time. Their solution was a popular one in sci-fi literature: We were kidnapped. Over the last 100,000 years humans have been relocated to the distant corners of our universe. Once there, they go about their business. Building monuments to their gods (Star Trek and Stargate) or becoming thriving interstellar civilizations more advanced than us on earth (Iain Banks’s The Culture).

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This was a welcome surprise for us here at Weird Things.

A five-part series that tries to explain how to make the science of Star Trek real…

Time Travel stories generally suck. There are some noteworthy exceptions – specifically stories that deal with the problems of time travel and not just time travel as a plot device (Primer, Back to the Future, to name a few).

Star Trek has done some great and some very bad time travel stories. Story merits aside, there’s one big problem with most time travel stories; Transmitting people back in time (information) has no theoretical basis: It’s impossible. For every worm hole propped open with exotic matter or giant Tippler tube, someone always finds an equation to show how the universe corrects itself with quantum screams, bubbles or other annoyances that get in the way of us correcting that horrible thing that happened in 6th grade or saving the whales.

Assuming for a moment that the killjoys at MIT and Princeton who relish in pointing out that time travel as we understand it is impossible, then what? How can we tell scientifically literate time travel stories? (more…)

A five-part series that tries to explain how to make the science of Star Trek real…

An important part of the Star Trek mythos is the idea of mind-to-mind contact. Spock uses this to probe other people’s minds and even transplant his entire consciousness. Counselor Troi used it to read the feelings of other species. It’s a wonderful concept that has fascinated people since at least the 1800’s. Unfortunately, we’re no closer to it being real now then we were back then.

We can imagine all sorts of technology assisted ways to make this real, but there’s nothing sexy about your Vulcan girlfriend asking you to step into an fMRI so she can read your voxels (okay, maybe a little sexy). What we need are some organic solutions or explanations for brain to brain transmission that make the concept a little more plausible. (more…)

A five-part series that tries to explain how to make the science of Star Trek real…

The transporters in Star Trek are an exciting concept. Recent developments in quantum physics have made the possibility of teleporting matter a theoretical possibility while warp drive still remains a fantasy concept. However, the amount of energy required to move a person and all the other problems that go with it (engineering and ethical) leave quantum teleportation a bit to be desired for practical use. Crazy things can happen, but in the event that quantum teleportation doesn’t scale up or people are upset by the idea of their atoms being destroyed so copies can take their place, here are some slightly (we think) more practical solutions for teleportation that use way less energy and preserve your atoms:

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photo credit: Aaron Escobar™

Can an island really move like the island(s) on Lost? Short answer yes. Maybe not through a donkey wheel in the bottom of a well, but an island can definitely move around.

The not so technical term is a “floating island” or tussocks, floatons, or sudds. They form when vegetation grows out from shore and eventually becomes buoyant and the roots can’t grab hold of the ground. A heavy wind can shear it off and set it adrift. They’re actually fairly common in lakes. Some are as large as a football field (or more) and can have trees and animal life.

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Awesome evil magic duo Barry and Stuart sent me a link to this clip from the Sun. Apparently some kid caught a ghost on his camera phone…look familiar?

Look at the fun you too can have with Ghost Vision! Available here for only $15

Magic inventor and legend Jim Steinmeyer has finally released his book on supernaturalist Charles Fort. I’ve just ordered my copy from Amazon and look forward to reading it. Link

It would appear the recent night time light show that reminded some of Close Encounters of the Third kind may have been the work of a man with some balloons and road flares. Way to go genius. Real UFO fakers use light sticks…
Link

Gambling, incest, whorehouses, invoking the devil and Jupiter, our modern day troublemaking celebrities have nothing on Popes of a bygone age. Check out this account of the teenaged Pope John XII (elected at 18, pope from 955 – 964). FYI, his dad, Albrec the II got him the gig.

Then, rising up, the cardinal priest Peter testified that he himself had seen [John XII] celebrate mass without taking communion. John, bishop of Narni, and John, a cardinal deacon, professed that they themselves saw that a deacon had been ordained in a horse stable, but were unsure of the time. Benedict, cardinal deacon, with other co-deacons and priests, said they knew that he had been paid for ordaining bishops, specifically that he had ordained a ten-year-old bishop in the city of Todi… They testified about his adultery, which they did not see with their own eyes, but nonetheless knew with certainty: he had fornicated with the widow of Rainier, with Stephana his father’s concubine, with the widow Anna, and with his own niece, and he made the sacred palace into a whorehouse. They said that he had gone hunting publicly; that he had blinded his confessor Benedict, and thereafter Benedict had died; that he had killed John, cardinal subdeacon, after castrating him; and that he had set fires, girded on a sword, and put on a helmet and cuirass. All, clerics as well as laymen, declared that he had toasted to the devil with wine. They said when playing at dice, he invoked Jupiter, Venus and other demons. They even said he did not celebrate Matins and the canonical hours nor did he make the sign of the cross.

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The Wikipedia entry on Pope John XII

In the summer of 1997 NOAA recorded a mysterious sound in the ocean on several hydrophones. The sound was capable of being heard for over 5000 km. There was no known source. Its audio profile matched that of a biological (a living creature). But there is no known creature capable of producing that sound. Such a creature would be the largest living creature ever. Was it a geological event? Man made? Or something else…

The sound: Play the “Bloop”

The coordinates of the signal strangely match up with the final resting place of Cthulhu from the H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos, the sunken city of R’lyeh.

Wikipedia on the Bloop sound
Wikipedia on R’lyeh
Cthulhu Lives!

Researchers have come to a conclusion as to why the Komodo dragon’s bite is a lot worse than it should be for a mouth of that size. Besides the infectious diseases they carry in their mouths and the 60 little daggers of teeth, the real power isn’t in their jaws, but in their necks. With neck muscles not normally seen outside of Eastern German Olympic training facilities, the 10 foot long beasts can bring down equally sized creatures. Making matters worse (or better depending upon your spot in the food pyramid) its throat muscles also help pull food into their gullet.

If that’s not freaky enough for you, there’s the whole virgin birth thing. These creatures can reproduce without even mating.

Komodo Dragon’s Deadly Secret Revealed
Komodo dragon at Wikipedia

A 1909 edition of the Phoenix Gazette describes the discovery by the Smithsonian Institute of a mammoth cave system with the remnants of a civilization numbering 50,000 people. Granaries, tombs and even idols reminiscent of Buddha were allegedly found.

Of course there’s the problem that the Smithsonian claims to have never launched the expedition and no record of any of the explorers can be found. Was it a hoax? Or is there another Anasazi city waiting to be found somewhere in the Grand Canyon?

The original article
An investigation into the facts of the article
The Anasazi in Wikipedia

Popular Science article

Exactly whose dream is Nara Dreamland in Japan? The now closed park has its own princess castle, Matterhorn ride, Jungle Cruise and many other eerily similar versions of famous Disney attractions. It's also got a building covered in swastikas.
Two intrepid tourists visit it before it closed (or was it already closed!).
A brochure for the park (in Japanese).
Google maps satellite view.