Stargate SG-1: True Science Page #3

---

it can really bend it,

a lot.

Now, take this pole here,

and say this is your universe and you're an ant living

at this end. Well, it's a long way from here to there

that is, unless the space in which you live is curved.

Well, you might think you're very close now,

you could just sort of jump across,

but you can't, because there's no space there.

This is your space and

you still have to walk all the way around

unless you bring them closer together

and they actually touch.

That changes the topology of space.

That's your shortcut.

That's a wormhole.

So if we were smart,

we could theoretically bend space so much,

it actually comes right back on itself.

You think that's crazy

watch this!

So here we are, Amanda,

magically transported. There's space all

around us, with Stargate Command here,

and the moon way over there, two hundred and

fifty thousand miles away, pretty far.

But if we curve space around Stargate Command,

and round the moon,

and eventually

create a tunnel that touches,

create a little hole, then we have a tunnel,

a wormhole,

and the distance between

Stargate Command and the moon

is very small through the tunnel. In fact, if you look

through the tunnel there, there's the moon

just on the other side.

See it? Pretty sexy...?

Mathematically they exist,

they're consistent with the laws of physics,

but you've still got to make them happen

and we don't have very good

technology for dealing with wormholes.

Another problem with wormholes is,

they tend to be unstable,

they collapse. If you just build them and

leave them, they fall apart again.

The gravitational fields would be so strong

at either end of the wormhole

that each end will collapse into a black hole

out of which nothing could escape.

But even if scientists could succeed

in holding a black hole open,

passing through it would definitely

not be for the squeamish.

It could actually be really stressful going through

because space and time would be very very

heavily curved, enormous gravitational fields.

Unless you're careful, you could be shredded.

Scientists have imagined that a wormhole would

probably look something like a floating crystal ball.

If you could see into it at all,

you might see an inkling of what's on the other side,

and this is roughly speaking what the producers

of Stargate have made their Gate look like.

It'd be a bit like a mirror.

When you look in the mirror,

you see another world.

When you walk round the back of the mirror,

the other world isn't there,

but if you walked through the mirror like Alice,

you're suddenly in the other world.

You can actually see

the fluctuations in the event horizon.

We have all sorts of reasons to believe

that making one would be very difficult,

but their existence is consistent

with the known laws of physics.

The Stargate has opened up a whole new world of

"save the universe" style adventures for us at SG-1,

and I have to say,

we've met some terrifying and weird enemies.

This is my lab.

It's here that I first realised that

these small pieces of alien technology

formed Earth's most serious threat.

Although humanity's fiercest and most

memorable adversary are the parasitic Goa'uld,

early on in SG-1's adventures we found ourselves

up against what seemed like an unstoppable enemy.

We thought we beat them once,

but soon they were back

bigger, better and bent

on universal domination.

They are...

the Replicators.

The Replicators are virtually unstoppable.

They devour anything they come across

and use that material to replicate themselves,

making themselves stronger

and more powerful as they go.

They can also assume different shapes, from

spider-like creatures right

through to spaceships and even humans.

In Series 8,

they even made a Replicator version of me.

And terrifyingly, the Replicators communicate

with each other through a common consciousness.

They have this greater capability because

they were all able to communicate with each other,

and they looked cool and they were scary and

we could shoot them and not feel guilty

about it because they were just machines.

It was born out of a desire to create

another villain other than the Goa'uld

but that were shark-like in their killing potential.

They couldn't really be reasoned with,

and so were deadly from that perspective.

Of course, here on Earth, scientists

are also working on our own Replicator-like robots.

These ones at the University of South Florida

can talk to each other and think together.

But thankfully, they're designed to help us,

not kill us.

In fact, scientists have designed robots

that can help in the dangerous business of looking

for survivors in the aftermath of a disaster.

They are continually in use by the emergency services,

and even saw action following 9/11.

And a bit like the Replicators, they are highly mobile

and have a sophisticated communication network

perfect for search and rescue.

For search and rescue, there are really three types

of robots that you would be using.

You've got ground robots which can go into the interior

of the rubble and places that people and dogs can't go.

You also have aerial vehicles

which can be incredibly useful,

particularly if you've got a hurricane or

earthquake, where you've got

a large geographically distributed disaster.

And then don't forget about water.

A lot of our cities are based around water and

you wanna see if there's any leaks or cracks or

if something's fixing to break

and cause a collapse of a bridge.

A lot of times right now, with the state

of technology, the human is the smarter one,

but that's beginning to change, 'cause robots

working together is something that's coming soon.

They're starting to give information to you.

At the same time, they're relaying information to

their other friends, their other peer robots, saying,

"Hey, can you see this? Slow down,

because this is where we're seeing survivors."

Ah, I see fire.

In the meantime,

this information will be relayed to aerial vehicles.

Those may be smart enough to say,

"Oh, but so much is happening.

Let's call our other friend robot

he's not doing much over there.

Come over here and work in this area for us."

So imagine this whole web

where the right information's getting to the

right people, or the right robot, at the right time.

Scientists at NASA are pushing the idea of groups

of robots working together even further.

They've developed a robot called the Twelvetet.

On its own, it can move across the ground

by sort of wiggling, crawling and falling.

But what's really cool is when they put

a whole group of them together.

They join up and can crawl over really rough terrain,

cross wide gaps, and even climb walls.

And they think as one.

Each robot is autonomous,

but their overall action is that of a single organism.

Remind you of anyone?

Another of the Replicators' most terrifying

characteristics is their unstoppable ability to learn.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes