Does "Day the Earth Stood Still" Get the Science Right?

Seth was one of the science advisors on the re-make of "The Day the Earth Stood Still." What were the results? Find out in today's New York Times:

"PASADENA, Calif. — Of all the movie promotions in all the towns in all the world, Keanu Reeves had to walk into this one: a California Institute of Technology forum at which he was asked, “How could an alien being grow so fast without violating standard mass- and energy-conservation laws?”..." Read the rest.

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" Redux

Picture this: Our environmental depredations have cheesed off nearby aliens, and they decide to send one of their own to Earth to save the planet.

Sound reasonable? Well, that’s the premise of The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 classic sci-fi film of the same name. The alien is played by Keanu Reeves, and his right-hand robot, Gort, is played by some computer graphics.

It’s going to be a film you won’t want to miss. And Seth was technical adviser on the film, so if you find any science errors, you can direct your fury to him.

Check out his description of what it was like to be on the set with Keanu, John Cleese, and Jennifer Connelly here.

Klaatu barada nikto!

Confessions of a Spore Addict

An overview of Spore from the game's creators

As you'll hear in this week's show, "Got Life?", Seth and Molly gave me a copy of Spore to play so that we could get a better understanding of the game. Well, a few hours turned into a week, and a cell turned into a galactic empire, just as the game's creators promised. I actually decided to start over as an herbivore, and made it through each phase as a friendly, diplomatic species, who are currently under attack by the Wirbleflubby, a species from a nearby star system whose requests for communication I accidentally ignored. Oops.

I also ran a carnivore through the first 3 phases, eating and destroying everything I could. They're about to start the Civilization phase, which should be interesting, as they're anything but civilized. In another game, I ran a carnivore through the first three phases as a friendly diplomat. Getting through the creature phase without killing anything was hard because I could only eat corpses. Fruit bad, corpses good. Go figure. In yet another game (yes, even eating and sleeping were annoying interruptions last week) I found the rare omnivore mouth type during the cell phase, and I'm working on getting through the Tribal stage both hunting and gathering.

If anyone has any questions about Spore, I'm the most likely one here to have answers. And if you know how to win over the Wirbleflubby without selling all my artifacts, please let me know!

Seth's Talk in Monterrey, Mexico

Seth has been participating in an astronomy conference, RNAA 2008, in Monterrey, Mexico. You can listen to his talk by visiting our Spanish language partner, RadioKosmos, and clicking on the AudioBlog link on the right. Then select RNAA 2008. Seth's talk is being translated into Spanish as he goes along. You can also find Are We Alone? episodes partially translated into Spanish in the audioblog.

View photos of the event, including some of Seth, by visiting www.astronomos.org and clicking on "fotos de la XIX Reunion de Aficionados a la Astronomia..."

Thanks to Lourdes Cahuich for all her work with our show and Seth's visit!

Hey, baby, got a light?

Yes, even babies were fair game in the cigarette advertisments of the 1950s. Oh, and this man isn't really a doctor. But - hey - anything goes when it comes to peddling tobacco.

Find out how cigarette companies manipulated images and twisted the truth to get Americans to light up.

It's "Skeptical Sunday: I'll Buy That!"

See more images in the exhibit, "Not a Cough in a Carload: Images Used by Tobacco Companies to Hide the Hazards of Smoking"

Kinoki Pads: Withdrawing Toxins or Just Your Money?

Our Hollywood Skeptic turns guinea pig as he tests the claims of body-purifying Kinoki pads.

"No amount of Kinoki pads would have a chance cleaning out the Super-Fund site inside my body."

Find out if he's right: "Skeptical Sunday: I'll Buy That!"

BIGFOOT SUIT SOLD ON EBAY: $250,000

Expensive Rubber Suit


It seems that a rubber suit stuffed with dead animal carcasses has just been sold on E-bay for a quarter of a million dollars. This isn’t just any rubber suit of course, but the one that was touted as being the body of a Bigfoot back in August of this year.

According to the descriptive copy on E-bay some of these monies will go to settle various lawsuits that have burgeoned in connection with this, one of the most egregious frauds of 2008. None, apparently, will go to the perpetrators.

“Are We Alone?” was at the now-infamous press conference at which the Bigfoot body was announced. Be sure to check out what we heard, and what various people involved with this bizarre affair (including the man who made the quarter-million dollar costume) have to say on our August 25 show, which you can find by scrolling down here.

- Seth Shostak