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Flying Whales and Balloon Plants
Wired reports on a documentary project by National Geograpic to create fictitious alien life forms for a planet called Aurelia and lunar orb called Blue Moon. The creatures were created using scientific principles and knowledge of evolutionary patterns.
Sounds like a pair of scenes ripped from your standard off-world fantasy novel, except the science behind these alien planets isn't fiction. Aurelia and Blue Moon are based on computer models created by NASA and SETI Project researchers to help identify which stars among the universe's 70 sextillion are most likely to support life. CGI representations of the worlds first appeared in a National Geographic documentary; the film and related interactive simulations are on display through February at the London Science Museum. A US tour is planned for this fall.
Scientists began with the essential ingredient for life: They assumed both worlds in the exhibit contained water. They then used as blueprints two scenarios formulated by the SETI Project. The first is a planet orbiting a sun close enough to keep water from freezing out, yet far enough away to avoid evaporation. The other is a moon orbiting a gas giant and warmed by twin suns.
To make the worlds as realistic as possible, SETI astrophysicist Laurance Doyle and NASA researcher Manoj Joshi ran detailed climate simulations on a desktop Linux box. The sims allowed the scientists to observe the consequences on habitability of a range of complex atmospheric variables like thermal circulation and precipitation levels. Next, a group of life scientists, led by University of Cambridge paleobiologist Simon Conway Morris, applied the principles of natural selection and adaptation to populate the planets. They determined creature leg lengths and wingspans using biomechanics algorithms, and they established vegetation height and characteristics according to factors like available light and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
"Implicit in these biospheres is the concept of evolution," says Conway Morris. As a result, the inhabitants of Aurelia and Blue Moon look more like something that might be encountered on the Galapagos Islands than at the cineplex. The life-forms on these pages illustrate realistic adaptations to an environment. Adaptations that almost - but not quite - befit creatures right here at home.
Wikipedia also has an entry on this subject and says the creatures and planets were explained in a two-part series called Alien Worlds. However, the National Geographic website says the show is called Extraterrestrial. You can see photos and previews here.
Posted on March 23, 2006
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Science Fiction Writers: Singularity Rapidly Approaching
Some of today's science fiction writers believe we are rapidly
approaching a point in time when fields like genetics, AI, nanotechnology
and physics will merge creating a period of rapid, life-changing discoveries
and inventions. A recent feature in Popular Science interviews three writers about the singularity event. Here is what
what author Vernor Vinge had to say:
Vernor Vinge, a computer scientist and science-fiction writer who’s now a
professor emeritus at San Diego State University. We're living through a
period of unprecedented technological and scientific advances, Vinge says,
and sometime soon the convergence of fields such as artificial intelligence
and biotechnology will push humanity past a tipping point, ushering in a
period of wrenching change. After that moment -- the Singularity -- the world
will be as different from today,s world as this one is from the Stone Age.
Posted on April 29, 2005
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Could Dragons Have Been Real?
The Animal Channel (part of the Discovery Network) produced an interesting show, called Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real. Dragons provides a
faux documentary that shows scientists discovering a
frozen dragon carcass in a cave high in the mountains.
Inside the cave scientists also find the bodies
of several 15th-century humans. As the Dragons show
reminds us several times during the show -- Dragons have
been recorded in nearly every single human culture. Even
cultures that did not have contact with one another like
the Aztecs and Inuit Eskimos.
The show takes the viewpoint that the dragons must have
been intelligent animals that were hunted and pushed to extinction
by man's continuous expansion. To explain dragons
from a science standpoint the producers came up with some
interesting theories to explain the dragon's ability to
fly and breathe fire. They said the dragons' bones were
strong but light -- similar to large birds today. The dragons
also created hydrogen from a bacteria in the gut that was
stored in two organs called air bladders that gave the
creatures buoyancy during flight. To create fire the
dragons ground up platinum with a second set of teeth
that they could use to ignite the hydrogen and oxygen. Today's bombardier beetle goes through a similar process when it blasts chemicals at a predator at temperatures of over 212 degrees Fahrenheit as a survival technique.
Obviously, we have no real fossil records of dragons. However,
the city of Troy was considered a legend until its discover.
And the recent discovery of a race of very short people (hobbits) makes you wonder if some of the stories we assume are myths and legends are actually facts. Even if you don't
think it is possible the show is still worth watching simply for the
cutting-edge special effects -- plus Patrick Stewart narrates.
An especially amazing segment is when the dragons display a dangerous courtship ritual the developers based on the actual courting ritual of Sea Eagles. The dragons soar high in the sky together where they
lock talons. Then the dragons dive straight downward together at alarming speed before pulling up at the very last moment.
Posted on March 21, 2005
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