Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the 1966 Sci Fi film classic “Fantastic Voyage” with the all star cast of Stephen Boyd as Grant, Raquel Welch as Cora, Edmond O'Brien as General Carter, Donald Pleasence as Dr. Michaels, Arthur O'Connell as Colonel Donald Reid, William Redfield as Captain Bill Owens and Arthur Kennedy as Dr. Duval.
For those of you who are viewing this film for the very first time you are in for a visual treat. So prepare to be miniaturized to microscopic dimensions as we take a Fantastic Voyage into the inner space of the human body.
Here is the basic plot line without any major spoilers:
The United States and the Soviet Union have both developed technology that allowed matter to be miniaturized using a process that shrinks individual atoms, but its value is limited. Objects only stay miniaturized for a limited amount of time depending on how much miniaturization the object undergoes.
Scientist Jan Benes, working behind the Iron Curtain, has figured out how to make the shrinking process work indefinitely. With the help of the CIA, he escapes to the West, but an attempted assassination leaves him comatose, with a blood clot in his brain. To save his life, Charles Grant (the agent who extracted him, played by Stephen Boyd), pilot Captain Bill Owens (William Redfield), Dr. Michaels (who is later revealed to have a fear of small spaces, played by Donald Pleasence), surgeon Dr. Peter Duval (Arthur Kennedy) and his assistant Cora Peterson (Raquel Welch) board a specially designed nuclear submarine, the Proteus, which is then miniaturized and injected into Benes. The ship is reduced to one micrometre in length, giving the team only one hour to repair the clot; after that, the submarine will begin to revert to its normal size and become large enough for Benes' immune system to detect and attack.
For those of you who enjoyed this movie and would like to explore the Sci Fi concept of miniaturization further allow me to suggest the following:
Isaac Asimov’s novelisation of the film classic and the novel “Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain”, also written by Isaac Asimov as an attempt to develop and present his own story apart from the 1966 screenplay. This novel is not a sequel to the original, but instead is a separate story taking place in the Soviet Union with an entirely different set of characters.
By far my most favorite novel in this series is Kevin J. Anderson’s “Fantastic Voyage: Microcosm” which is a third interpretation of the Fantastic Voyage Universe published in 2001. This version has the crew of the Proteus explore the body of a dead alien that crash-lands on earth, and updates the story with such modern concepts as nanotechnology (replacing killer white cells).
A comic book adaptation of the film was released by Gold Key Comics in 1967. Drawn by industry legend Wally Wood, the book followed the plot of the movie with general accuracy, but many scenes were depicted differently and/or outright dropped, and the ending was given an epilogue similar as that seen in some of the early draft scripts for the film.
A 3D remake of this “Fantastic Voyage” is slated for release in 2013.And now without further adieu we present the 1966 Sci Fi film classic Fantastic Voyage!!!
Fantastic Voyage (1966) You can view the movie via this link!!!
Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the third episode of a new documentary series that premiered on the Science Channel in the United States on Wednesday June 9th entitled “Through the Wormhole” and hosted by veteran actor Morgan Freeman.
In the third installment of this exciting new series we explore the exciting possibility of travelling through the fourth dimension of time and take an odyssey into the deep distant past and into far-flung futurity.
Einstein’s Theory of Relativity says that time travel is perfectly possible — if you’re going forward. Finding a way to travel backwards requires breaking the speed of light, which so far seems impossible. But now, strange-but-true phenomena such as quantum nonlocality, where particles instantly teleport across vast distances, may give us a way to make the dream of traveling back and forth through time a reality.
Step into a time machine and rewrite history, bring loved ones back to life, control our destinies. But if we succeed, what are the consequences of such freedom? Will we get trapped in a plethora of paradoxes and multiple universes that will destroy the fabric of the universe?
Copyright: Science Channel
Through The Wormhole - Is Time Travel Possible?
Through The Wormhole - Is Time Travel Possible? Also on YouTube.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we are presenting a brand new series entitled “How the Earth Changed History” hosted by Iain Stewart with the first episode entitled “Water World”.
National Geographic Channel first aired “How the Earth Changed History: Water World” on Sunday June 20, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. ET. This was the first of five episodes debuting between June 20 – 22, 2010. National Geographic Channel is taking viewers from deep beneath the crust of the earth to the skies to look back at how Planet Earth has helped shaped human history, and how history has shaped the earth.
How the Earth Changed History: Water World is the first of five episodes of the series. The other episodes include Beneath the Crust, The Skies Above, the Gift of Fire and The Human Era.
Water is the planet’s essential lifeblood. Water is constantly transforming itself, shifting between guises and from place to place. Of all our planet’s forces, perhaps none has greater power over us. Our struggle to control it has been behind the rise and fall of some of our greatest civilizations throughout history.
In Africa the show rediscovers how early communities found water underground in the desert, and how this guided their food supply and economy. Viewers joined Prof. Stewart on a trek to Cherrapunji, India, where average annual rainfall approaches 40 feet, to see how an overabundance of water has created the need for an engineering partnership between man and nature in the form of bridges grown from the roots of trees. These beautiful and ancient constructions take hundreds of years to grow and only get stronger as they grow older.
In Iceland, the viewer follows the never-ending cycle of water as it rises from the oceans to clouds from which it rains down and forms rivers, then is bound up as ice or stored below the Earth’s surface, only to return to the oceans and repeat the cycle again.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going to take a trip back in time in Search of the mythical Garden of Eden and the beginnings of civilization. Whether or not you believe in the veracity of the biblical account, both of today’s video features contain a wealth of information concerning the origin of the first civilization to emerge on our planet – The Sumerians.
Time Life Lost Civilizations - Mesopotamia: Return to Eden
Mesopotamia "land between the rivers, " is a name for the Tigris-Euphrates region in the eastern Mediterranean, largely corresponding to Iraq, as well as northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khuzestan Province of southwestern Iran. Widely considered as the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumerian,Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian empires. In the Iron Age, it was ruled by the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Neo-Babylonian Empire, and later conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It mostly remained under Persian rule until the 7th century Islamic conquest of the Sassanid Empire.
Time Life Lost Civilizations
Actor Sam Waterston hosts this ten-part series that revisits ancient cultures on four continents. Dramatic re-enactments recall key historic events, and attractive location footage provides viewers with interesting information about the featured cultures. This episode examines the culture of the ancient Sumerians, who once lived in an area that's now part of Iraq. Some historians believe that these people built the world's earliest civilization.
Mysteries of The Garden of Eden
In the Bible, the Garden of Eden is an earthly paradise taken away as punishment for the sins of humankind. But, is it possible that scientific evidence can prove that the Garden really existed?
Now, DECODING THE PAST devotes its authoritative resources to exploring the true nature behind this legendary place. According to the Bible, Eden is located east of Israel, where the Tigris, Euphrates, Pison, and Gihon rivers meet. The latter two rivers have long been considered mere fable; however, recent satellite photography suggests they did in fact exist in Iraq. In this captivating program, learn how traditions of a paradise lost are surprisingly common and consistent across many cultures, and sift through the scientific evidence to determine whether today s technology can go as far as proving the Garden s existence.
Featuring cutting-edge satellite imagery and interviews with renowned scholars, MYSTERIES OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN decodes an age-old story about how paradise was lost, and where it might be found.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we present another delightful and informative documentary concerning the enduring legend and quintessential Renaissance man – Leonardo da Vinci.
Leonardo was a man who came from humble beginnings who sort to remake, and redefine his life. In a very violent world he sort to create beauty and master the forces of nature.
Today’s hour and half documentary “Leonardo da Vinci and the Code He Lived By” recreates the world, the historical epoch and political milieu, with all its intrigues and assignations, of Leonardo's society with magnificent vivacity.
The program covers some of the major events and influences in Da Vinci’s life. This not only served to humanize this great historical figure but also chronicle the formation of a great genius. Da Vinci was 1452, the illegitimate son of a Florentine notary named Ser Piero and Caterina, a poor farmer’s daughter. As the boy grew to manhood a new intellectual endeavor was to take hold, humanism, a study of every aspect of man. Science, philosophy and art would begin to displace the dark ages. His prospects for life where bleak, as a bastard child he would not inherit any financial security, business or even a family name. For most illegitimacy was a dead end, a sentence of poverty. Young Leonardo had something few had, imagination, and that is what made a difference.
Leonardo started life in a world of violence. Men wore armor under their fine clothes. Bodyguards and food tasters surrounded the rich and powerful. For the lower class life was cheap. Leonardo sought to associate with a guild, but his dubious birthright would bar him from that way out. Only his artistic talent could possibly save him. It was here that Da Vinci learned that artist had access to the powerful. The rich and prosperous would commission paintings and statues. A talented man could make a name for himself among the power brokers of the day. He could work on art destined for the leading family of Florence, the Medici.
The show also has an excellent recreation of the Easter Sunday attack on the infamous Medici family in Florence. The young Da Vinci saw warfare first hand resulting in several of his early innovations. The young man became infatuated with the mechanics of war which lead to his designs of what would now be called SCUBA gear and reinforced tanks. While working with the master artist, Andrea del Verrocchio, Leonardo learned the self disciplines that would make him a perfectionist. He also sees that although his master is not high born he is treated with respect among the powerful. At twenty years of age he has finally earned the rights to join a guild but opts to remain with his former master. Although gifted beyond his peers Leonardo had doubts of working on his own. The young man refused to eat meat, he felt that nature was the ultimate in engineering and art and refused to devour any living creature.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we again explore the life and work of a man, who more than anyone else in history, epitomizes the Age of the Renaissance - Leonardo da Vinci.
In this episode of the History Channel’s Modern Marvels we take another close look at the technological innovations that flowed forth from Leonardo’s prodigious imagination and intellect.
Nearly 500 years after his death, Leonardo da Vinci still intrigues us. Most people think of him as a great artist, but he was also a remarkable scientist and inventor. His love of mechanics was unparalleled and he filled his notebooks with pages of incredible machines--from weapons of war to "Ships of the Skies", from submarines and scuba suits to robots and an analogue computer...even contact lenses and alarm clocks! How did a 15th-century man envision such modern innovations? If we follow his plans, would any of his designs work? We need wonder no more. With recent technological advances and new materials, we're the first generation able to bring Leonardo's drawings to life--to learn whether his "mechanical dreams" were workable plans. We explore the fascinating intersection of his art, science, and engineering marvels, and use them to offer insight into this "Genius of Geniuses", who remains as elusive as Mona Lisa's smile.
The X-37B is currently orbiting the Earth but the USAF has been interested in spaceplanes for decades. Today we take a look at the X-20 Dyna-Soar project from the 1960s. Apollo eventually sucked up the space money and killed the vehicle. Would there now be large fleets of fully reusable spaceplanes had there never been an Apollo space program?
Today on Discovery Enterprise we will embark on an odyssey that takes us into inner universe of the human mind as we present the sixth and final episode of Michael Mosley’s “The Story of Science”. This voyage will reveal the intimate and personal secrets of our inner selves as revealed by twenty-first century neural science and try to answer a very personal existential question – Who are we?
We now know that the brain is the organ that more than any other defines our humanity. It is the seat of the human soul and intellect. The human brain (and the human mind that resides in it) is one of the true wonders of the known universe, and yet until the 17th century it was barely studied and its inner secrets are only now beginning to be unveiled. Yet, much of the inner landscape of the human mind remains shrouded in mystery.
The twin sciences of neuroanatomy and psychology have offered different visions of who we are. Now these sciences are coming together and in the process have revealed some surprising and uncomfortable truths about what really shapes our thoughts, feelings and desires. And the search to understand how our brains work has also revealed that we are all and, whether we realize it or not, scientists from the moment we are born.
Deep under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico strange oil eating organisms, the cold-seep communities, can be found.:
In 1984, scientists found that the heat was not necessary. In exploring the depths of the Gulf of Mexico, they discovered sunless habitats powered by a new form of nourishment. The microbes that founded the food chain lived not on hot minerals but on cold petrochemicals seeping up from the icy seabed.
Today, scientists have identified roughly one hundred sites in the gulf where cold-seep communities of clams, mussels and tube worms flourish in the sunless depths. And they have accumulated evidence of many more — hundreds by some estimates, thousands by others — most especially in the gulf’s deep, unexplored waters.
Now these creatures may be threatened by the Deepwater Horizon oil leak:
Now, by horrific accident, these cold communities have become the subject of a quiet debate among scientists. The gulf is, of course, the site of the giant oil spill that began April 20 with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drill rig. The question is what the oil pouring into the gulf means for these deep, dark habitats.
Seep researchers have voiced strong concern about the threat to the dark ecosystems. The spill is a concentrated surge, they note, in contrast to the slow, diffuse, chronic seepage of petrochemicals across much of the gulf’s northern slope. Many factors, like the density of oil in undersea plumes, the size of resulting oxygen drops and the potential toxicity of oil dispersants — all unknowns — could grow into threats that outweigh any possible benefits and damage or even destroy the dark ecosystems.
Of course if there was a permanent underwater habitat in the Gulf maybe we would have a far better understanding of whats happening and be a in a much better position to prevent damage.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going to take a foray into the field of Archaeoastronomy and explore how our ancient forbearers decoded the night sky and built the foundations of civilization. Not with the help of ancient astronauts but through their own perseverance and innate intellect.
Our ancestors' relationship with the heavens led to some of humankind's ancient discoveries and greatest creations. The ancient Greeks discovered Earth was round; the Polynesians used the sun and stars to navigate vast oceans in simple canoes; some think amazing structures like Stonehenge were designed to observe the sky. Now, Known Universe examines mankind's first observations of the cosmos to understand how they put us on the path to modern discovery.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we focus our attention on the sixth element of periodic table -Carbon. The element carbon forms the basis of all organic and biochemistry, the chemistry of life itself. Life on Earth is Carbon based and we humans, to use a phrase made famous by the late Arthur C. Clarke, are “Carbon Based Bipeds”.
So on behalf of my fellow co-bloggers Dennis Chamberland, Ralph Buttigieg and Michael Lombardi I bid you all - Greetings, fellow carbon based bipeds and any other sentient carbon based life forms that harbor nothing but good will towards our fellow inhabitants of planet Earth.Join us as we explore the one essential ingredient that links all life on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the Cosmos.
All life forms, including us, are built upon atoms of carbon. But modern technology is also built on a foundation of carbon. Modern Marvels: Carbon explores how such a simple element burns hotter, cuts deeper, dies harder, insulates more thoroughly, and absorbs more fully than any other material.
From diamonds to coal, carbon fiber race cars to graphite pencils, you’ll see why carbon is not just the stuff of life, but the key to modern technology. You’ll also learn why “activated carbon” is the material of choice for absorbing everything from toxic heavy metals in your drinking water to funky odors in your shoes. And you’ll see how NASA is using carbon aerogel, the lightest, most insulating substance in the world, to search for clues about-you guessed it-carbon-based life forms.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we present another exciting episode from the National Geographic Channel’s awesome documentary series “Known Universe”.
Brace yourself for a storm of stellar proportions.
Never mind the pesky blizzards and mudslides we deal with. Imagine dodging frozen methane raindrops, or winds of 11,000 mph. Take a trip around the cosmos to see some of the universe's most extreme weather. Travel to Venus, the hottest planet in our solar system, where temperatures scorch at 900 degrees. Witness massive dust storms that rage for months on Mars. And, head to the Space Weather Prediction Center to see how weather on the sun affects us.
On October 15th, 2003 Yang Liwei rocketed into space aboard the aboard Shenzhou-5. This event marked the entry of China into an elite group, consisting only of Russia and the United States, who had the capability to launch human beings off the planet. Yang's name therefore was placed in history next to those of Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we take a behind the scenes look at China’s space program and at the selection of China’s Space hero Yang Liwei.
China's First Man in Space goes behind the closed doors of China's “Space City” to show the astronaut candidates' rigorous training and testing regime. The final decision on which candidate would ride the rocket was taken only a few hours before launch. The last three didn't know who would be selected to fly into space – and into history – until it was time to suit up. Cameras caught the final minutes until history was made. China's manned space programme began in secrecy. There was no live coverage of the launch. The first time the Chinese public knew of the event was a half-hour after they had a man in space. Even his name was a mystery. But pictures were taken and now they can be shown. China took a great leap forward when it launched a man named China's manned space programme was launched in 1992. It was an ambitious programme. Only two nations – the Soviet Union and the United States – had successfully launched a man into space. China was determined to be the third.
"The thing the Time Traveller held in his hand was a glittering metallic framework, scarcely larger than a small clock, and very delicately made. There was ivory in it, and some transparent crystalline substance. And now I must be explicit, for this that follows--unless his explanation is to be accepted--is an absolutely unaccountable thing. He took one of the small octagonal tables that were scattered about the room, and set it in front of the fire, with two legs on the hearthrug. On this table he placed the mechanism. Then he drew up a chair, and sat down. The only other object on the table was a small shaded lamp, the bright light of which fell upon the model. There were also perhaps a dozen candles about, two in brass candlesticks upon the mantel and several in sconces, so that the room was brilliantly illuminated. I sat in a low arm-chair nearest the fire, and I drew this forward so as to be almost between the Time Traveller and the fireplace. Filby sat behind him, looking over his shoulder. The Medical Man and the Provincial Mayor watched him in profile from the right, the Psychologist from the left. The Very Young Man stood behind the Psychologist. We were all on the alert. It appears incredible to me that any kind of trick, however subtly conceived and however adroitly done, could have been played upon us under these conditions.
The Time Traveller looked at us, and then at the mechanism. `Well?' said the Psychologist.
`This little affair,' said the Time Traveller, resting his elbows upon the table and pressing his hands together above the apparatus, `is only a model. It is my plan for a machine to travel through time. You will notice that it looks singularly askew, and that there is an odd twinkling appearance about this bar, as though it was in some way unreal.' He pointed to the part with his finger. `Also, here is one little white lever, and here is another.'
The Medical Man got up out of his chair and peered into the thing. `It's beautifully made,' he said.
`It took two years to make,' retorted the Time Traveller. Then, when we had all imitated the action of the Medical Man, he said: `Now I want you clearly to understand that this lever, being pressed over, sends the machine gliding into the future, and this other reverses the motion. This saddle represents the seat of a time traveller. Presently I am going to press the lever, and off the machine will go. It will vanish, pass into future Time, and disappear. Have a good look at the thing. Look at the table too, and satisfy yourselves there is no trickery. I don't want to waste this model, and then be told I'm a quack.'
There was a minute's pause perhaps. The Psychologist seemed about to speak to me, but changed his mind. Then the Time Traveller put forth his finger towards the lever. `No,' he said suddenly. `Lend me your hand.' And turning to the Psychologist, he took that individual's hand in his own and told him to put out his forefinger. So that it was the Psychologist himself who sent forth the model Time Machine on its interminable voyage. We all saw the lever turn. I am absolutely certain there was no trickery. There was a breath of wind, and the lamp flame jumped. One of the candles on the mantel was blown out, and the little machine suddenly swung round, became indistinct, was seen as a ghost for a second perhaps, as an eddy of faintly glittering brass and ivory; and it was gone--vanished! Save for the lamp the table was bare.
Everyone was silent for a minute. Then Filby said he was damned.
The Psychologist recovered from his stupor, and suddenly looked under the table. At that the Time Traveller laughed cheerfully. `Well?' he said, with a reminiscence of the Psychologist. Then, getting up, he went to the tobacco jar on the mantel, and with his back to us began to fill his pipe.
We stared at each other. `Look here,' said the Medical Man, `are you in earnest about this? Do you seriously believe that that machine has travelled into time?'
`Certainly,' said the Time Traveller, stooping to light a spill at the fire. Then he turned, lighting his pipe, to look at the Psychologist's face. (The Psychologist, to show that he was not unhinged, helped himself to a cigar and tried to light it uncut.) `What is more, I have a big machine nearly finished in there'--he indicated the laboratory--`and when that is put together I mean to have a journey on my own account.'
`You mean to say that that machine has travelled into the future?' said Filby.
`Into the future or the past--I don't, for certain, know which.'
After an interval the Psychologist had an inspiration. `It must have gone into the past if it has gone anywhere,' he said.
`Why?' said the Time Traveller.
`Because I presume that it has not moved in space, and if it travelled into the future it would still be here all this time, since it must have travelled through this time.'
`But,' I said, `If it travelled into the past it would have been visible when we came first into this room; and last Thursday when we were here; and the Thursday before that; and so forth!'
`Serious objections,' remarked the Provincial Mayor, with an air of impartiality, turning towards the Time Traveller.
`Not a bit,' said the Time Traveller, and, to the Psychologist: `You think. You can explain that. It's presentation below the threshold, you know, diluted presentation.'
`Of course,' said the Psychologist, and reassured us. `That's a simple point of psychology. I should have thought of it. It's plain enough, and helps the paradox delightfully. We cannot see it, nor can we appreciate this machine, any more than we can the spoke of a wheel spinning, or a bullet flying through the air. If it is travelling through time fifty times or a hundred times faster than we are, if it gets through a minute while we get through a second, the impression it creates will of course be only one-fiftieth or one-hundredth of what it would make if it were not travelling in time. That's plain enough.' He passed his hand through the space in which the machine had been. `You see?' he said, laughing.
We sat and stared at the vacant table for a minute or so. Then the Time Traveller asked us what we thought of it all.
`It sounds plausible enough to-night,' said the Medical Man; 'but wait until to-morrow. Wait for the common sense of the morning.'
`Would you like to see the Time Machine itself?' asked the Time Traveller. And therewith, taking the lamp in his hand, he led the way down the long, draughty corridor to his laboratory. I remember vividly the flickering light, his queer, broad head in silhouette, the dance of the shadows, how we all followed him, puzzled but incredulous, and how there in the laboratory we beheld a larger edition of the little mechanism which we had seen vanish from before our eyes. Parts were of nickel, parts of ivory, parts had certainly been filed or sawn out of rock crystal. The thing was generally complete, but the twisted crystalline bars lay unfinished upon the bench beside some sheets of drawings, and I took one up for a better look at it. Quartz it seemed to be.
`Look here,' said the Medical Man, `are you perfectly serious? Or is this a trick--like that ghost you showed us last Christmas?'
`Upon that machine,' said the Time Traveller, holding the lamp aloft, `I intend to explore time. Is that plain? I was never more serious in my life.'
None of us quite knew how to take it.
I caught Filby's eye over the shoulder of the Medical Man, and he winked at me solemnly.
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Is time travel possible? Would you like to become a real life Chrononaut? Will we ever be able to transverse the fourth dimension as easily as we transverse the three spatial dimensions of length, breath and height? And if it were possible to travel through time freely what will this reveal to us about the fundamental nature of reality? Will our forays into the fourth dimension reveal to us that we inhabit an infinite multiverse were any conceivable historic outcome is possible? Will we discover alternate realities in which Hitler was victorious and the Nazis won the Second World War or the American Revolution ended in disaster for the American Colonists and the British still rule the Americas? Or will we discover that time is in fact linear and that altering history will lead to strange mind boggling paradoxes?
In just a few decades Time Travel may indeed leap out of the realm of science fiction and become science fact or in the very least communication across the fourth dimension may prove feasible through the exciting work of Dr. Ronald L. Mallett.
Dr. Ronald Mallett’s "Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality" is an autobiographical account of his quest to build a working time machine which is at once poignant and exciting in that it conveys a sense of what its like to be on the cutting edge of some really far out physics and how this has been intertwined with his very personal desire to save his long dead father.
The following 2003 BBC documentary "The World's First Time Machine" chronicles the work of Dr. Mallett's cutting edge work and covers the possibility of alternative universes and paradoxes that come with time travel.
Can a Highly Advanced Extraterrestrial Civilization Build Dr Ronald L. Mallett’s Time Machine and allow us to Journey into the Deep Past?
Another interesting documentary comes from the series Mega Science: Time Travel which covers the work of other real life chrononauts.
Mega Science Time Travel
If real life chronautics isn’t your cup of tea then do the next best thing and watch George Pal's 1960 Science Fiction Classic The Time Machine.
Forget that silly remake in 2002! This is the original and best movie adaptation of the story. After scoring popular hits with “When Worlds Collide” and “The War of the Worlds”, special-effects pioneer George Pal returned to the visionary fiction of H.G. Wells to produce and direct this science-fiction classic from 1960. Wells' imaginative tale of time travel was published in 1895 and the movie is set in approximately the same period with Rod Taylor as a scientist whose magnificent time machine allows him to leap backward and forward in the annals of history. His adventures take him far into the future, where a meek and ineffectual race known as the Eloi have been forced to hide from the brutally monstrous Morlocks. As Taylor tests his daring invention, Oscar-winning special effects show us what the scientist sees: a cavalcade of sights and sounds as he races through time at varying speeds, from lava flows of ancient earth to the rise and fall of a towering future metropolis.
George Pal's The Time Machine
Also, make it a point to read the exciting sequel to Wells’ all time science fiction classic “The Time Ships” by Stephen Baxter published in 1995 to commemorate the centennial of the publication of Wells’ scientific romance.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the second episode of a new documentary series that premiered on the Science Channel in the United States on Wednesday June 9th entitled “Through the Wormhole” and hosted by veteran actor Morgan Freeman.
In the second episode of this exciting new series we explore the most elusive object ever conceived by modern physics and try to unravel the riddle presented by black holes.
They are the most powerful objects in the universe. Nothing, not even light, can escape the gravitational pull of a black hole. Astronomers now believe there are billions of them out in the cosmos, swallowing up planets, even entire stars in violent feeding frenzies. New theoretical research into the twisted reality of black holes suggests that three-dimensional space could be an illusion. That reality actually takes place on a two-dimensional hologram at the edge of the universe.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going on an expedition into the heart of the Amazon in search of Lost Cities.
Over the centuries, explorers traded tales of a lost civilization amid the dense Amazonian rainforest. Scientists dismissed the legends as exaggerations, believing that the rainforest could not sustain such a huge population -- until now. A new generation of explorers armed with 21st-century technology has uncovered remarkable evidence that could reinvent our understanding of the Amazon and the indigenous peoples who lived there.
National Geographic - Explorer: Lost Cities of the Amazon
Author's note: Be sure to read the story posted by my good friend and co-blogger Ralph Buttigieg about the famous British explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett who plunged into the Amazon forest in search of a lost civilisation he had named the City of Z never to be seen again.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we continue our whirl wind tour of the wonders of the solar system with the fifth and final episode of the BBC documentary “Wonders of the Solar System”, presented by Professor Brian Cox.
Today we join Professor Cox as he descends to the bottom of the Pacific in a submarine to witness the extraordinary life forms that survive in the cold, black waters. All life on Earth needs water so the search for aliens in the solar system has followed the search for water.
Soaring above the dramatic Scablands of the United States, Brian discovers how the same landscape has been found on Mars. And it was all carved out in a geological heartbeat by a monumental flood.
Armed with a gas mask, Brian enters a cave in Mexico where bacteria breathe toxic gas and leak concentrated acid. Yet relatives of these creatures could be surviving in newly-discovered caves on Mars.
But Brian's sixth wonder isn't a planet at all but, the Jovian moon - Europa.
Jupiter's moon Europa is a dazzling ball of ice etched with strange cracks. The patterns in the ice reveal that, far below, there is an ocean with more potentially life-giving water than all the oceans on Earth.
Of all the wonders of the solar system forged by the laws of nature, there is one that stands out. In the final episode of this series, Brian reveals the greatest wonder of them all.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore how essential space travel technologies have journeyed back to Earth with surprising and indispensable commercial applications. Applications that will revolutionize industry and increase the competitiveness of those nations that invest in the new commercial enterprises that the frontier of space has to offer.
For example, paint that can withstand the heat of reentry now protects our steel-framed high-rises from collapsing in a fire. Batteries that can take a sports car from zero to 60 in four seconds also keep our satellites in orbit. The oxygen tank used by firefighters to save countless lives is just like the one used by our astronauts during the Apollo missions. These and many ordinary objects are traced back to their NASA roots, where they originally had the right stuff.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore the question - What Is the Secret of Life? In the fifth episode of “The Story of Science,” Michael Mosley traces the story of how science answered this question.
Michael Moseley tells the story of how the secret of life has been unraveled through the prism of the most complex organism known - the human body. It begins with attempts to save the lives of gladiators in Ancient Rome, unfolds with the macabre work and near-perfect drawings of Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance, through the idea of the 'life force' of electricity, to the microscopic world of the cell. It reveals how a moral crisis unleashed by work on the nuclear bomb helped trigger a great breakthrough in biology - understanding the structure and workings of the master molecule of life, DNA.
The Story Of Science - What Is The Secret of Life?
Today on Discovery Enterprise with the help of astronomers, astrophysicists and computer animators we are going to embark on an odyssey into the ultimate gravitational abyss of the Cosmos - the black hole, in which matter is crushed into a pinpoint of infinite density and smallness and from which not even light can escape.
Its been a good week for the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA. First they had the successful deployment of their solar sail now the Hayabusa spacecraft returns to Earth with its precious cargo of asteroid dust:
The Hayabusa probe is the first to have made physical contact with an asteroid and returned to Earth, landing just before midnight (CST) yesterday, the Australian Science Media Centre confirmed.
The capsule parachuted to Earth within the Woomera Prohibited Area, a remote military zone 485km northwest of Adelaide.
Woomera is a big place, about the size of England, so I hope they find the canister. Here is a video of the re-entry.
Is time travel possible? And if it were what will this reveal to us about the fundamental nature of reality? Will our forays into the fourth dimension reveal to us that all of cosmic existence is in fact virtual and that we are nothing more than mere virtual players in a highly advanced computer simulation? Will our attempts at becoming the New Time Lords only reveal to us that in fact we are mere pawns in a highly sophisticated arcade game?
According to the BBC documentary Horizon-“Time Trip” such possibilities are very real.
I have been a supporter of solar sails for a long time. If the technology was successfully developed it would allow spacecraft , including crewed vehicles, to explore the Solar System without the requirement of fuel. As well missions which would be impossible such as hovering over the poles, become achievable. There has been several attempts to fly solar sails but they have generally ended in failure. Finally , success seems to have been achieved. The Japanese space agency JAXA has managed to deploy the IKAROS solar sail:
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) began to deploy the solar sail of the Small Solar Power Sail Demonstrator "IKAROS" on June 3 (Japan Standard Time). On June 10 (JST,) we have confirmed that it was successfully expanded and was generating power through its thin film solar cells at about 770 km from the Earth.
The IKAROS was launched on May 21, 2010 (JST), from the Tanegashima Space Center.
We will measure and observe the power generation status of the thin film solar cells, accelerate the satellite by photon pressure, and verify the orbit control through that acceleration. Through these activities, we will ultimately aim at acquiring navigation technology through the solar sail.
If the spacecraft continues to preform well it will be sent to Venus.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we present the first episode of a new documentary series that premiered on the Science Channel in the United States on Wednesday June 9th entitled “Through the Wormhole” and hosted by veteran actor Morgan Freeman.
The first installment of this series explores perhaps the ultimate existential question - Is There A Creator?
Through the Wormhole explores the deepest mysteries of existence — the questions that have puzzled mankind for millennia.
What are we made of? What was there before the beginning? Are we really alone? Is there a creator? These questions have been pondered by the most brilliant minds of the human race. Now, science has evolved to the point where hard facts and evidence may be able to provide us with answers.
It’s perhaps the biggest, most controversial mystery in the cosmos. Did our Universe just come into being by random chance, or was it created by a God who nurtures and sustains all life? The latest science is showing that the four forces governing our universe are phenomenally finely tuned. So finely that it had led many to the conclusion that someone, or something, must have calibrated them; a belief further backed up by evidence that everything in our universe may emanate from one extraordinarily elegant and beautiful design known as the E8 Lie Group.
While skeptics hold that these findings are neither conclusive nor evidence of a divine creator, some cutting edge physicists are already positing who this God is: an alien gamester who’s created our world as the ultimate SIM game for his own amusement. It’s an answer as compelling as it is disconcerting.
Copyright: Science Channel
Authors Note:
Personally I feel that simulation hypothesis, first formulated by Nick Bostrom (whose work in the field of existential risks I greatly admire), presented in this episode is a very good example of pathologically bad science. I personally feel that in our attempts to stretch the limits of human knowledge to the breaking point we are in fact being led down avenues of muddled headed thinking and in the process science fiction and fantasy are taking the place of real level headed science.
Today on Discovery Enterprise we present a grand debate between SETI@Home founder Dan Werthimer and planet-hunter and skeptic, Geoff Marcy concerning whether or not sentience and technological civilizations are prevalent in the Milky Way Galaxy and the rest of the Cosmos.
Science Fiction portrays our Milky Way Galaxy as teeming with advanced civilizations engaged in interstellar communication, commerce, and occasionally star wars. If so, great Galactic societies anticipate offering membership to Earth.
Back in our real universe, extraterrestrial life has proved elusive. None has been found. The arguments for and against technological life in the Galaxy have sharpened in recent years. Evidence abounds on Earth of the hardiness of life even in extremely harsh environments. Other evidence suggests the Earth may be a rare type of planet, unusually benign for life as we know it. Evidence on both sides is mounting. Which one is right? There can be only one answer: Either the Milky Way is teeming with technological life or it isn’t.
SETI: The Great Debate – Are We Alone?
Apr 30, 2010 7:30 pm Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center UC Berkeley Berkeley, CA 94720
istry, the chemistry of life itself. Life on Earth is Carbon based and we humans, to use a phrase made famous by the late 
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