From its humble beginnings, the Star Trek franchise has taken the science in its science-fiction seriously. Over the decades many ‘Treknologies’ have become realities, while some are still only theoretical. It is these kinds of concepts that will be the subject of a new Science Chanel show premiering tonight, where physicist Michio Kaku explores "Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible".
Kaku looks at the Star Trek and sci-fi science
Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible is a weekly show, with each episode tackling a new science-fiction topic. The show is hosted by physicist Michio Kaku (author of "Hyperspace" and "The Pysics of the Impossible"). Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible premieres on the Science Channel tonight (December 1st) at 10 PM, with two episodes actually. Both of tonight’s episodes will cover Star Trek science.
The first half hour will be "How to Explore the Universe", here is the official synopsis
Exploring the universe on a ship that can boldly go where no man has gone before isn’t just a sci fi dream. Dr Michio Kaku reveals how we really could one day build a warp drive and set out on our own star trek.
The second half hour episode is titled "How to Travel to a Parallel Universe"
A gateway to a world of limitless possibilities. The parallel universes of science fiction turn out to be as real as they are fantastic. Dr Michio Kaku reveals how future civilizations could build a machine to reach one.
Here is a preview of the second half hour episode airing tonight.
This second episode may be of special interest to those interested in how the new Star Trek team, and specifically Roberto Orci, view the physics of their Star Trek. Kaku is a proponent of the "Many Worlds Interpretation" of quantum physics and his book "Hyperspace" is one of those cited by Orci as part of his research for Star Trek, and its new parallel realities (see previous TrekMovie article covering this issue and Kaku).
Future episodes will deal with other sci-fi concepts including light sabers, time travel and how to destroy a planet. A schedule can be found at science.discovery.com. The show also has a Facebook Fanpage.
Kaku tackles more sci-fi concepts in "Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible"
You can also pick up Kaku’s latest book (and basis for the series) "Physics of the Impossible", which is full of references to Star Trek, from transporters, to warp, to time travel and more.
Michio Kaku should be science advisor to JJ and company. His work on
The Universe series was outstanding. He is a real rock star of science
This sounds very interesting.
I had plan to read “the physics or Star Trek”.
Maybe “Physics of the impossible” will be next…
He’s my favorite science guy!
Mr Orci, pick his brain!
Is there an episode on red matter?
*snark*
Actually, if I can find The Science Channel on my box, I will definitely give this a look. Love this stuff! Makes me feel like I was born a few centuries too early.
Star Trek should be required viewing for all budding scientists. :-)
I think it’s interesting that so many people continue to see Trektechnology and Trek science as near the forefront of real technology and science, since the franchise is nearing its half-century mark. In some ways, Trektech is like the horizon — always there, and yet somehow in the distance. It’s the ultimate unobtainium. No matter what we develop based on its ideas, it still gives us more. Like the horizon, it gives us a sense of where we should head, and invites us go there to see what lies just over it.
In a uniquely paradoxical way, it’s the unobtainium that keeps on giving.
I prefer writers to write fantastic nearly impossible ideas rather than possible ones which are boring. If you zoom out far enough the clusters of super galaxies form neuron and dendrites looking patterns seen in the human brain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrite
I am certain the macrocosm and microcosm of the universe is identical, we are simply in between worlds, if you look at the shape of hurricanes to galaxies they are pretty much the same.
If only our propulsion advancements matched the rate of computer advancements, I mean wtf why are NASA smucks still trying to lug around tonnes of weight and shoot out wasteful amounts of fuel in order to project forward lol@ourspaceships.
I love how Kaku and Brian Greene are vying to be the next Carl Sagan.
Have read all of Kakus’ works. If you ever get the chance, check it out. Excellent reads, every one of them. Also, if you have not had the chance, get the physics of star trek and beyond the physics of star trek by Lawrence Krauss. All Must Reads!!!! Dying to see this show!!!!
Awesome. I read Kaku’s Hyperspace and his Parallel Worlds. I actually copied some sections out of his text for assignments for my physics students. He’s great at explaining concepts without going over the average person’s head and also not dumbing it down.
Hey, Trekologist, I’d also recommend Neil Tyson’s Death by Black Hole!
Dr. Kaku is so great… LOVE his books and he’s always great on television.
Ha; we worked out warp drive on TNG before these eggheads made it popular. Well, with a little help. :)
I’ve known and worked with a lot of the folks who pioneered interstellar studies, and it was always fascinating to hear about the cosmos and how we might actually get “out there.”
Cool Rick! You guys were pioneering on some things, that’s for sure. Now can you help them invent a cell phone that actually makes decent phone calls? :P
On a more serious note, does anyone know which, if any, Canadian networks carry this?
#14
Discovery Channel? I’ve seen him there from time to time, he is ok. I just think he is wasting his time with this stuff and should be putting his energy towards identifying life on other planets or improving propulsion for NASA. Leave the sci fi to other people, I mean this is like the natives trying to explain flight and building a plane out of wood har har har
I did some CGI work for one episode of Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible. On Tuesday Dec. 8, they will air an episode “How to Blow Up a Planet” and my buddy Tom Miller and I did the explosion of the Earth in that episode. Fun fun!
3. McCoy’s Gall Bladder – December 1, 2009
He’s my favorite science guy!
Mr Orci, pick his brain!
______
I did. By reading all his books.
fascinating…it has been said many times how Trek inspired many to be scientists, engineers etc. Let’s hope we have a bit more science in universe2 Trek and continue that ideology. Some of the latest quantum, string, membrane and singularity etc science/theory are begining to sound more wierd and sci-fi than ever. Maybe that elusive graviton is around the next rather warped corner…?
14, It might be that Canadian networks have their own version of Dr. Kaku. His name is Dr. David Suzuki. :-)
#10. Got it!!! I’m reading it now. Another good read!!! We call Dr. Tyson Sphagettification Man in my house….. If you’ve seen his discovery channel special on Supermassive black holes, you know what I mean….. ;)
I’d love to see Michio Kaku & Neil Degrass Tyson in a battle royale refereed by Stephen Hawking! The loser dies by a phaser concealed in Hawkins chair…
I wager 4,000 quatloos on the newcomer!
DUDE! The DeLorean rocks!
See, I love Neil Degrasse Tyson, but at the same time he got Pluto removed from planethood. I am conflicted.
Thar’s a science channel?!
Hmmmmm…
Oh, I once made me own lighty-saber outta’ some road flares dropped in a hollwed oot’ Mag Light. No biggie. And when I drive my DeLorean, it be a time machine as it becomes 1980 again whilst I wear me shoulder pads and “Flock O’ Seagulls” wig which is composed o’ a bunch o’ seabirds. That white stuff on me face ain’t KISS kabuku.
And I been ta’ a parrrrr-a-yell universe. I call it Tanquery.
Oh, sorry… I’m BND- Tha’ Mis-science Master. Let me tell ye’ how God created man…
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
#20: I didn’t see the show, but he did mention it several times in the book. AND he is fairly available at the Hayden Planetarium in NYC (as the director): I’ve seen him several times there, he loves talking to people just walking around, I’ve heard him mention the spaghettification incident several times.
I wonder if the new show will discuss Red Matter, the Nexus, Chromoton particles, and other BS MacGuffin devices from previous Trek movies….
#24 BND
Hopefully it ‘aint KISS bukaki either.
#6 somethoughts
Oh, I don’t know. I really enjoy works like Niven’s Ringworld series. Now, the science is impossible but plausibly explained. Although utilizing an entire solar system’s resources to build an artificial world is a tad extreme. And 2001 is some good stuff along with most of Arthur Clarke’s works. I often look at Star Trek and wonder where the civilizations get the resources to build entire fleets of gigantic ships and power sources. It is hard to imagine a galactic (let alone domestic) economy that could support such endeavors. Like, where do you get the materials to build the Deathstar or a Super Star Destroyer (I know; that’s Star Wars, but you get the point)? How strong does Vulcan’s economy have to be to support it’s scientific and exploratory endeavors? How does trade work within the Federation if some of the members don’t use money?
Rick Sternbach? Bob Orci? Michio Kaku? Bueller? Anyone? Class?
The Physics of Star Trek is an amazing book! It really blew my mind, and I’m sure this will do the same thing. I love the way science can just jump out at you and show you something you’ve never seen before, or challenge you to think waaaaay outside the box.
I hope Kaku’s new show helps to breed a new generation of scientists and engineers, much like Bill Nye and Star Trek inspired me (haha, true story)
8. Horatio “I love how Kaku and Brian Greene are vying to be the next Carl Sagan.”
Sorry, NO ONE can replace Carl Sagan.
#27 – I’m sure that the Federation at least has worked out a Value Equivalency Index or VEI that allows for the trading of, say, a box of shuttle warp coils for a year’s worth of oscarmyericium vaccine. The VEI would be rooted in a product or service’s “cost” in terms of raw materials, energy used in various processes, packaging, transport, etc. Why, almost like today, only a heckuva lot more complicated. Thank Ghu for computers to keep it all straight.
“Simple natives! What say you trade us that upsedaisium for these shiny beads?” Might just work. :)
Michio Kaku was on another Science Channel show where he described making a time machine using worm holes. The power source was basically a massive miles long TNG style warp core using photons rather then deuterium.
Doesn’t the article mention that O&K did “pick” Kaku’s brain or at least read his book?
I know reading Physics of the Impossible helped me in a debate over the movie.
#27
I’ll trade you x amount of green girls for? :)
Trading should be universal.
You can also create a slave race and have them mine gold and resources then wipe them out later on or give them the planet…all the while your trade partners want the world and create problems with the gene pool by propagation amongst the slave race. The slave race is deemed to be wiped out by flooding due to the contamination but one of your scientists/chief medical doctors have strong feelings for his beloved race and has a few build a ship to save what they can and everything is reset. I am sure there are many races who seed planets as this is the ultimate way for a species/race to propagate and ensure it’s genes/ideas are spread and left to grow, sorta like having children.
The replicator can also solve the problem of gathering resources, to master the atomic world and being able to control it from a technological or mental stand point can prove invaluable.
Any engineering project can be built given enough time and resources.
Somethoughts: Niven covered that in Harlequin’s Moon.
He also postulated that WE are a slave race and our “Masters” could come back at any time.
Everyone:
Kaku’s Warp Drive theory is possible in an Einsteinian Universe by combining the gravity generator with the matter/antimatter to temporarily create a pocket in space (like a billiard table pocket) where things in space “go” while the ship pulls the destination toward it (like a man standing on one edge of a rug pulling the other end toward him with a hook).
But it can only be done in “flat” space. Not near planets and certainly not in Earth Orbit! DOH!
Mr Orci, you understand that I want you to become like Spielberg and not like QT, dontcha?
I bet 1000 quatloos on the newcomer!
I believe if you understand the engine behind light waves/particle and emulate that engine, you can apply that propulsion model to spacecrafts.
It would probably be magnetism on a cosmic scale and also understanding how plankton serve oceanic species for energy, there is cosmic plankton that a ship can feed off of and use as a driving force to fuel the light particle/wave engine model. Instead of curving space, you are using magnetism to be pulled into a direction of a solar system/planets.
I suppose such a space ship would be like a raft caught in a very fast stream of water. The direction of the craft can be controlled via directional spin of the light particle/wave/magnetic model.
The slave race theory was actually discovered by Zachary Stichen by decoding the Sumerian tablets of their “gods” the “annunaki”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BToUxSi-QwA&feature=related
That mankind was created in the image of the Annunaki by mixing their dna with early monkies/apes in order to mine gold on earth and it was decided that earth was to be given to us after they left. So both creation and evolution theory can hold true, which would be wow.
Maybe Orci and team can write a sci fi story with star trek in the spirit of this :)
One of these fine days, I will make it to NYC (you’d think I’d have made it by now considering I’m only a few hours away up in Rochester) and will stop at the Hayden Planetarium. I would love to meet him. and then I will go to NYC comic con! ;) I’m just full of plans…..
I watched both episodes last night. I wasn’t as impressed as I had hoped. It was good, but very vague and I still went to bed feeling like it all is still Science Fiction.
I like his tablet notebook PC, though.
This is for Dr Kaku.
My name is Debbie I would like to discuss an invention idea that I have.
It would in my opinion better the long tube florescent light and rid the Mercury base inside. I believe my idea would make for a more efficient and safer lighting system for the consumer as well as environmentally stable.
I realize the small bulbs of florescence is already safer and more efficient how ever many businesses and schools are still using the long tube lighting which has been discovered to be very unhealthy.
Michio Kaku is an incredibly approachable guy. My father, with a GED, corresponds with him regularly, and they never seem to run out of things to discuss. He and Neil DeGrasse Tyson are two of the greatest popularizers of science for our generation.
I love that guy! I see him on “The Universe” all the time!
I’ll have to see if they show this one online, since I don’t have that particular channel.
#2:
If you read “The Physics of STAR TREK” (a good book) make sure you also read “The Metaphysics of STAR TREK”, which may be an even more interesting book.
After Obama has cut NASA to the bone will any of this interest anyone? Watching Bolden’s press meeting tonight it has finally hit me that after nearly a half century the US will be losing its manned space program.
It is a dark time. Gene Roddenberry, Stanley Kubrick and Wernher von Braun are rolling in their graves tonight.
Bolden actually had the hubris to tell the constellation workers to “get over it”!!!
If you are a US space fan you would find this the most depression press conference in history.
Madness…madness………………………