Scholastic‘s “Classroom Magazine” is Science World which “captures the excitement of science” and also claims that that “Science World captivates your class.”
They recently published a fascinating article for the little ones dealing with the subject of aliens, time travel, memory erasure, etc. along with how to turn the concepts into activities within the classroom. The stated “objective” is that “Students will learn how the science fiction in a new movie compares with real-life science facts.”
FindArticles has reproduced Karina Hamalainen’s article The Men in Black are back! How does cutting-edge science stack up against the fictional world of Men in Black 3? From May 14, 2012 AD.
Premised upon the movie, they ask…and answer:
Could extraterrestrials be roaming the streets of New York City? Yes, according to the movie Men in Black 3…
Agent J will battle evil aliens and travel back in time…all while keeping a lid on the secret that aliens are living undercover here on Earth. But how close are we to meeting aliens, traveling back in time, or wiping people’s memories? Find out how these science-fiction staples stack up against scientific fact.
ALIENS UNDER WRAPS
In the films, Men in Black is a secret organization charged with keeping the presence of aliens on Earth a secret. Some of these extraterrestrials look just like us, some wear special disguises that conceal extra arms or legs, and other, more-conspicuous aliens hole up in secret hideouts.Although some people believe that aliens really do walk among us, it’s not likely, says Seth Shostak, an astronomer at the SETI Institute…
Of course, we have discovered non-human intelligence…see our article Non-human intelligent life, have we discovered it?
MODIFYING MEMORIES
…A flash of light from this marker-shaped memory wiper [neuralyzer] allows the agents to rewrite witnesses’ memories of the aliens they’ve seen…A team of neurologists at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York has been working to figure out if memories can be erased. The researchers found that a special form of a protein called PKMzeta is responsible for the formation and storage of memories (see diagram, below).
When the team injected rats’ brains with a drug that blocks PKMzeta, the rats forgot everything–their fears, their favorite foods, and the location of their favorite hideouts.
Someday, a more finely tuned method of using PKMzeta could erase painful memories or treat diseases like post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, and drug addiction. “It will be a lot like Men in Black—but not with a flash of light. It’ll be more like a drug,” says Todd Sacktor, the research team’s lead neurologist.
This is interesting because the technology of which the general publish is aware is always decades behind the technology of which government, etc. are aware, that which they actually have and utilize.
Thus, if we can make rats forget well, everything you can be assured that rats are not the only ones to have undergone such experimentation.
Note how such things are always sold oh so very positively. Erasing memory will be great in dealing with painful memories, PTSD, chronic pain, drug addiction, etc. But, of course, it could, would, will and surely is being put towards those nefarious ends to which humanity always puts such things.
BACK IN TIME
…one place where time travel might be possible is at the center of a black hole. No one knows what goes on deep inside these collapsed stars, which have so much gravity that even light can’t escape their pull.“There is no way to communicate with the interior of a black hole—using radio signals or smoke signals or sign language or anything else,” says Liu [Charles Liu, an astrophysicist at the College of Staten Island, NY]. There’s a chance that if you were to travel to the center of a black hole—and if you were to make it out alive–you might pop out in another time…
String theory allows for the mathematical possibility of an infinite number of parallel universes existing simultaneously.
Of course, this bit about parallel universes is based on one of various interpretations of mathematical equations and is not based on any empirical verifiable science is not observable and remains un-experimented upon. See the following video playlist for issues relating to multiverse theory: Cosmology, Universe, Multiverse, Astronomy.
Next, the kids are taken from utter speculation to utter pseudo-scientific pseudo-physics:
A form of time travel might be possible by combining string theory’s parallel universes with the many worlds hypothesis, which spawns alternative timelines based on the choices that everyone makes.
For example, today you wore jeans to school, but you chose the jeans over khaki pants. According to the many worlds hypothesis, there’s another world with another version of you that wore khakis today.
Every time you make a decision, there’s another world that exists based on the possibility that you made the other choice. According to this method, you wouldn’t exactly be time-traveling. It’s more like you would be jumping between universes.
Well, who are we to disregard this merely based on an argument from incredulity? Because you chose to eat chocolate ice cream rather than vanilla an entire universe formed wherein you actually chose vanilla. And if you were at Baskin and Robbins then 31 universes were created: one for each flavor.
But since Baskin and Robbins not only has 31 flavors but has various kinds of cones, toppings, cakes, etc. by simply choosing an ice cream flavor you have created hundreds if not thousands of universes (keep in mind that you can mix and match flavors).
Of interest in this regard may also be the following essays:
In the Beginning…Cosmology, Part I – The Pre Big Bang Scenario
In the Beginning…Cosmology, Part II – Book, Chapter and Multi-Verse
And much more in True Freethinker’s section on Cosmology.
BIOLOGY: HUNTING FOR ALIENS
The kind of intelligent alien life you see in the movies may be worlds away or only a fantasy. But scientists believe there may be simpler forms of alien life much closer to home. Read this passage to learn about the search for life on Mars.
Here is a lesson in logic kids: what is this sentence called, “The kind of intelligent alien life you see in the movies may be worlds away or only a fantasy”? Anyone? Anyone?
It is a false dichotomy as it offers only two options. What are other options?
Glad you asked, see the article What are aliens and UFOs?
Overall, the concept of discerning reality from fiction—and reality within fiction—is interesting and important as writers of fiction get ideas from reality and also write their worldviews into their fiction.
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