23 min
The Core: Flying bricks, pacemakers, and quantum avian eyeballs Decipher SciFi
-
- Science
Forgetability
The valley of forgetability (The Core) between science-respecting sci-fi (e.g. Arrival) and totally bonkers nonsense (e.g. Jupiter Ascending).
Space shuttle
Landing the “flying brick.”
Bird navigation
Magnetite beaks. The possibility of quantum eyeball magnetic navigation HUDs. Corvid appreciation. Why birds don’t all fly into our windows and our eyeballs.
Pacemakers
Keeping your heart on-rhythm. Not as immediate a death sentence as portrayed.
Earth’s outer core
The absurd energies in the spinning of Earth’s core - a ball of iron the size of Mars, spinning a thousand miles an hour
That’s a whole lot of energy. If it doesn’t sound like much, let’s convert it to megatons: it’s the equivalent energy of five trillion one megaton bombs going off.
Phil Plait on the spinning outer core
Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy Review of The Core: BadAstronomy.com
Support the show!
Forgetability
The valley of forgetability (The Core) between science-respecting sci-fi (e.g. Arrival) and totally bonkers nonsense (e.g. Jupiter Ascending).
Space shuttle
Landing the “flying brick.”
Bird navigation
Magnetite beaks. The possibility of quantum eyeball magnetic navigation HUDs. Corvid appreciation. Why birds don’t all fly into our windows and our eyeballs.
Pacemakers
Keeping your heart on-rhythm. Not as immediate a death sentence as portrayed.
Earth’s outer core
The absurd energies in the spinning of Earth’s core - a ball of iron the size of Mars, spinning a thousand miles an hour
That’s a whole lot of energy. If it doesn’t sound like much, let’s convert it to megatons: it’s the equivalent energy of five trillion one megaton bombs going off.
Phil Plait on the spinning outer core
Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy Review of The Core: BadAstronomy.com
Support the show!
23 min