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Science fiction has never been closer to reality! Join us as we break down the real scientific concepts hiding inside some of the most thrilling sci-fi films of the last decade! From linguistic relativity in "Arrival" and antimatter physics in "Ad Astra" to bioluminescence in "Avatar: The Way of Water" and time dilation in "Project Hail Mary" — the truth is just as mind-blowing as the movies!
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Thank you for the still suits.
00:02They are Fremen make the best.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:06And today we're looking at the real scientific concepts
00:09behind 10 of the most beloved sci-fi movies of the last 10 years.
00:13One of these bullets is like us,
00:15traveling forwards through time.
00:17The other one's going backwards.
00:20The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, a rival.
00:23Language is the foundation of civilization.
00:25It's the glue that holds the people together.
00:27It's the first weapon drawn in the conflict.
00:30When alien heptapods touch down on Earth,
00:33linguist Louise Banks doesn't just learn to chat with them.
00:36She learns to see the future.
00:37Linguistic determinism granting psychic time travel
00:40is definitely a creative liberty,
00:42but the foundational science behind it still holds weight.
00:45You approach language like a mathematician.
00:47You know that, right?
00:50I will take that as a compliment.
00:53It relies on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis,
00:55specifically linguistic relativity.
00:57Cognitive science shows that the language you speak
01:00gently shapes how you categorize your surroundings.
01:03For example, cultures with distinct words
01:05from multiple shades of green
01:06can distinguish those colors faster than English speakers.
01:09Learning a new language won't reveal your future,
01:12but it fundamentally rewires your brain
01:14to perceive the world differently.
01:15The weapon is their language.
01:17They gave it all to us.
01:19Do you understand what that means?
01:20So we can learn heptapod if we survive.
01:22If you learn it when you really learn it,
01:25you begin to perceive time the way that they do.
01:28Horizontal gene transfer.
01:30Annihilation.
01:31Concentric rose.
01:33Something here is making giant waves in the gene pool.
01:36When a mysterious shimmer envelops the landscape,
01:39DNA rapidly mutates,
01:41creating terrifying hybrid creatures
01:42like that unforgettable screaming bear.
01:45Turns out, nature doesn't need
01:46a shimmering alien dome to mix DNA.
01:49All it needs is a process known as horizontal gene transfer.
01:52The shimmer is a prism, but it refracts everything.
01:57Not just light and radio waves.
02:00Animal DNA.
02:02Plant DNA.
02:03Normally, DNA is passed vertically from parent to offspring.
02:07However, horizontal transfer allows genetic material
02:10to move between entirely different organisms.
02:13Bacteria frequently share genetic instructions
02:15to develop antibiotic resistance,
02:17and viruses routinely inject DNA into host genomes.
02:20A significant percentage of the human genome
02:23is actually composed of ancient viral DNA
02:25acquired through this exact genetic process.
02:28Sometimes biology is much weirder than fiction.
02:31What do you mean all DNA?
02:33She's talking about our DNA.
02:38She's talking about us.
02:39Antimatter Annihilation and Mass Energy Equivalence.
02:42Ad Astra.
02:43Roy, the surge seems to be the result
02:46of some kind of antimatter reaction.
02:49Now, the Lima Project was powered by that material,
02:52and your father was in charge of it.
02:54We're talking about a potentially unstoppable chain reaction here.
02:59This awe-inspiring space epic features a damaged spacecraft
03:02in the outer solar system triggering catastrophic electrical surges
03:05that threaten Earth.
03:06The fuel for this disaster is an unstable antimatter reaction.
03:10The sheer destructive power portrayed
03:12is actually rooted in hard physics.
03:14A series of destructive electrical storms
03:16has wreaked havoc across the globe,
03:18and scientists are concerned we've not seen the last of them yet.
03:21When matter collides with antimatter,
03:23they undergo mutual annihilation.
03:25Their masses convert into pure energy,
03:28a yield mathematically governed by Einstein's
03:30mass-energy equivalence equation.
03:32Just a single gram of antimatter
03:34contains enough potential energy
03:36to dwarf the atomic bombs dropped in World War II.
03:39Although creating and containing enough
03:41to power a ship remains a theatrical exaggeration,
03:44the explosive physics are entirely verified by science.
03:47The uncontrolled release of antimatter
03:50could ultimately threaten the stability
03:52of our entire solar system.
03:54Entropy and the Arrow of Time.
03:56Tenet.
03:56This entropy runs backwards,
03:58so to our eyes its movement is reversed.
04:01We think it's a type of inverse radiation
04:03triggered by nuclear fission.
04:04Christopher Nolan loves playing with time,
04:06and this blockbuster takes it to another level.
04:09Agents use turnstiles to invert the entropy
04:11of people and objects,
04:13causing them to move backward through time.
04:15In fundamental physics,
04:16most equations are perfectly symmetrical.
04:19The primary mechanism giving time
04:20a definitive macroscopic direction
04:22is the second law of thermodynamics,
04:24which dictates that total entropy
04:26must always increase.
04:28Travel.
04:28No.
04:30Technology that can invert an object's entropy.
04:33You mean reverse chronology,
04:35like Feynman and Wheeler's notion of their
04:37positrons and electrons moving backwards in time?
04:39Sure, that's exactly what I meant.
04:41While Nolan's script name drops
04:43the Wheeler-Feynman absorber theory,
04:45the film actually relies on
04:47the Feynman-Stuckelberg interpretation
04:48to suggest that locally reversing
04:50an object's entropy reverses its experience of time.
04:53In reality, decreasing a system's entropy
04:56just makes it colder and more ordered.
04:58It doesn't create a time machine.
05:00But the theoretical framework
05:01is undeniably fascinating.
05:03This reversing the flow of time
05:05doesn't us being here now
05:07mean it never happens?
05:08Or we stop them?
05:11Optimistically, I'd say that's right.
05:13Pessimistically?
05:14In a parallel world theory,
05:16we can't know the relationship
05:17between consciousness and multiple realities.
05:21Is your head hurt yet?
05:22Reverse osmosis and water reclamation.
05:24The Dune franchise.
05:26Did Fremen make these?
05:28In still suits and sand compactors
05:30and all kinds of ingenious things.
05:31The Fremen of Arrakis survive
05:33the brutally harsh desert environment
05:34using still suits.
05:36These intricate garments
05:37capture escaping bodily moisture
05:38like sweat, breath, and even urine
05:40and recycle it into drinkable water.
05:43Believe it or not,
05:44this is arguably one of the most
05:46realistic technologies on the list.
05:48It's hardly even science fiction.
05:50A still suit is a high-efficiency
05:53filtration system.
05:55Even this early in the morning,
05:57you wouldn't survive two hours
05:59without one of these.
06:01It cools the body
06:03and recycles the water lost to sweat.
06:06Aboard the International Space Station,
06:08the Environmental Control
06:09and Life Support System
06:11does exactly what a still suit does.
06:13It captures moisture
06:14from astronauts' breath and sweat
06:15via dehumidifiers,
06:16then utilizes vacuum distillation
06:19and catalytic oxidation
06:20to recycle urine.
06:21Thanks to this revolutionary technology,
06:24today's astronauts drink recycled water
06:26that is functionally purer
06:27than everyday tap water on Earth.
06:30Inside the mask,
06:31you'll find a tube
06:31to allow you to drink
06:32the recycled water.
06:34In good working order,
06:36your suit won't lose
06:36more than a thimble full of water a day.
06:39Most impressive.
06:40Planetary Defense
06:41Don't Look Up
06:42What Dr. Mindy is trying to say
06:44is that there's a comet
06:44headed directly towards Earth.
06:46And according to NASA's computers,
06:48that object is going to hit
06:49the Pacific Ocean
06:50at 62 miles due west
06:52off the coast of Chile.
06:53And then what happens?
06:53Like a tidal wave?
06:54In this satirical comedy,
06:56humanity desperately scrambles
06:57to assemble a defense fleet
06:59armed with explosives
07:00to intercept a planet-killing comet.
07:02While the movie focuses
07:03on the political failures,
07:04the science of intercepting
07:06celestial bodies
07:06is an active real-world practice.
07:08So how certain is this?
07:10There's 100% certainty of impact.
07:13Please, don't say 100%.
07:15Can we just call it
07:16a potentially significant event?
07:18Yeah.
07:19Enter planetary defense
07:20and kinetic impactors.
07:21In 2022, NASA successfully executed
07:25the double asteroid redirection test.
07:27They didn't send roughnecks
07:28with a nuke.
07:29Instead, they played cosmic billiards,
07:31intentionally slamming a probe
07:33into an asteroid
07:34at roughly 14,000 miles per hour.
07:36The kinetic impact was successful
07:38in altering the rock's orbit,
07:39definitively proving
07:40that we can physically nudge
07:42dangerous asteroids
07:43off their course.
07:44Okay, I'm just...
07:47I'm so relieved
07:48that you guys are doing something.
07:50I...
07:51This has been really...
07:53I...
07:54Really...
07:55I really are.
07:57Bioluminescence
07:57Avatar The Way of Water
07:59The sea is your home
08:01before your birth
08:05and after your death.
08:08The aquatic wildlife of Pandora
08:10utilizes intricate glowing patterns
08:12to communicate,
08:13lure prey,
08:14and see in the pitch-black depths
08:16of the ocean.
08:16Director James Cameron
08:18based Pandora's oceans
08:19directly on Earth's
08:20spectacular deep-sea biology,
08:22and bioluminescence
08:23is a highly prevalent
08:24chemical reaction
08:25in marine biology.
08:26Do you like looking at the stars?
08:31You know my dad
08:32came from the star.
08:34That one.
08:35Right there.
08:37It occurs when
08:38a light-emitting molecule
08:39called luciferin
08:40reacts with oxygen,
08:42catalyzed by the enzyme luciferase.
08:44Real marine animals
08:45ranging from deep-sea anglerfish
08:47to microscopic dinoflagellates
08:49use this exact
08:50cold-light chemistry.
08:51They rely on it
08:52to camouflage
08:53against the sunlit surface,
08:54attract mates,
08:55or distract predators
08:57in the darkest depths
08:58of our own oceans.
09:11Neuromorphic Computing
09:12The Creator
09:13This is the police.
09:15You are under arrest.
09:17Put down your...
09:22Guys, I just fired the JV.
09:24You better move your asses.
09:25In this modern cult classic,
09:28artificial intelligence
09:28operates via simulants,
09:30a made-up term
09:31for androids
09:32possessing advanced brains
09:33mapped from human consciousness.
09:34Unlike traditional computers
09:36that process information
09:37sequentially using
09:38a standard CPU,
09:39the AI here
09:40operates much closer
09:41to real-world
09:42neuromorphic engineering.
09:44Years ago today,
09:45a nuclear warhead
09:46was detonated
09:47in Los Angeles.
09:49Nearly a million people
09:52incinerated
09:52in the blink of an eye
09:54by the artificial intelligence
09:56created to protect us.
09:59We banned AI
10:00in the Western world,
10:02so this will never happen again.
10:04In this rapidly advancing branch
10:06of computer science,
10:07microchips physically mimic
10:09the human brain's
10:10biological structure.
10:11By utilizing artificial synapses
10:13and neurons
10:13that process
10:14and store data simultaneously,
10:16these chips handle
10:17complex AI tasks
10:18with unprecedented speed.
10:20They manage
10:20complex sensory processing
10:22using a fraction
10:23of the energy
10:23modern processors require.
10:25The future is here, folks.
10:28It's a miracle.
10:31They've made a child.
10:33Viral mutation
10:34and zoonotic spillover.
10:36Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
10:38She saw what I saw.
10:41It was in her eyes.
10:43She reacted.
10:47The terrifying simian flu virus
10:49mutates over generations
10:50and causes humans to regress,
10:52losing higher cognitive functions
10:54and speech.
10:54The franchise's foundation
10:56relies on zoonosis,
10:57a real biological mechanism
10:59where pathogens cross
11:00the species barrier
11:01between animals and humans.
11:03He has his journey.
11:05We have ours.
11:08Come.
11:09Furthermore,
11:10RNA viruses rapidly mutate
11:12to adapt to new host immune systems.
11:14While a virus instantly
11:16stripping humanity of speech
11:17is a major exaggeration,
11:19real viruses absolutely mutate
11:21to target specific tissues,
11:22including vital neurological pathways.
11:25The rabies virus
11:26specifically attacks
11:27the central nervous system
11:28to induce major behavioral changes
11:30that facilitate transmission.
11:32Sometimes,
11:33biology is much scarier
11:35than any movie.
11:35She called my name.
11:38You misheard.
11:41You said
11:41Miss Nova
11:42was smarter than most.
11:46Within reason.
11:57Before we continue,
11:58check out this single
11:59from Sound Mojo's album,
12:00Balance.
12:01Classical music reimagined
12:02as rock,
12:03hard rock,
12:04and metal.
12:04Check out the full track
12:06and album below.
12:08Born in the sunlight
12:10Born in the rain
12:12Life is a rhythm
12:15Running through veins
12:21Special relativity and time dilation
12:24Project Hail Mary
12:30This highly acclaimed flick
12:32features an astronaut
12:33hurtling through deep space
12:34at near light speed,
12:36leaving him vastly out of sync
12:37with everyone's age back home.
12:39Based on Andy Weir's beloved novel,
12:41Project Hail Mary relies entirely
12:43on special relativity.
12:44He is a school teacher in space.
12:47That's not bad.
12:49I like.
12:50All right.
12:51And in answer to your question,
12:53I have no idea what I'm doing in space.
12:56I don't remember.
12:57As an object approaches
12:59the speed of light,
13:00time slows down for that object
13:02relative to a stationary observer.
13:04This mind-bending phenomenon
13:05is called time dilation
13:06and is calculated
13:08using the Lawrence factor.
13:09Because the ship travels
13:10so incredibly fast,
13:12the protagonist ages only a few years
13:14while decades pass on Earth.
13:16This is a physical proven law
13:18of the universe
13:19and it's something
13:20that scientists actively correct for
13:22when programming GPS satellites
13:24orbiting our planet.
13:25Please state your name.
13:27Rhyme and Grace.
13:28I spoke up from a coma.
13:30I'm several light years
13:32from my apartment
13:32and I'm not an astronaut.
13:35Do you prefer the science
13:37or the fiction?
13:38Let us know in the comments.
13:42not at all.
13:44No.
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