BBC Focus - 03.2020

AMAZON PRIME VIDEO

DRERINMACDONALD

Erinis ScienceConsultantfortheStarTrek

franchise,holdinga PhDinAstrophysics.Shehas

anonlineseries“DrErinExplainstheUniverse”

andherspecialtyis generalrelativity.

InterviewedbyBBCScienceFocus production

assistant Holly Spanner

longtime,andthatgoesbacktotheoriginal

series,butmoreimportantly,inDeepSpace

NineandEnterprise. It’sinterestingtoseehow

storytellinghaschangedmorethan the types

of stories that are being told.

ISTHEREANYTECHNOLOGY IN STAR TREK THAT YOU’D

REALLYLIKETOSEE?

Oh,warpdriveis mynumberone!If wecango

fasterthanthespeedof light,ourwholeuniverse

willopenup.Fasterthanlighttravelis a

necessityformostsciencefiction.Backinthe

movieFirstContact, it wasZeframCochrane

testingoutthefirstwarpenginethatcausedthe

Vulcansto showup and induct humanity into

t he Federation.

DOYOUTHINKWARPDRIVEISTHEORETICALLY

POSSIBLEANDTHATWE’LLACHIEVEITBY2063?

I thinktheoretically,mathematically,it is

possible.Thesciencebehindthetheory,is

basicallythisideathatouruniverseis a ‘sheet’of

spacetime.Nothingwitha mass,onthesurface

of spacetimecangofasterthanthespeedof light

• thisis Einstein’sTheoryof GeneralRelativity.
  Atzeromass,youcancoastalongat a fixed
  speed,at thespeedof light.But,thereis nothing
  thatsaysspacetimeitselfcan’tgofasterthanthe
  speedof light.Warpdriveis thisideathatyou
  canbuilda bubbleof spacetimearoundyour
  ship,andthatbubblepropelsyoufasterthan
  light.Ourlimiteris justourknowledgeof
  spacetimeitself.Imaginea bowlingballona
  trampolineasananalogyfora massonthis
  sheetof spacetime– spacetime,ourtrampoline,
  willbecurved.So,youcanwarpspacetimewith
  a mass,butalsoanequivalentamountof energy


• a lotof energy.Thequestionweneedto
  answer,is howmuchenergywillgetusfrom
  pointA to pointB – butthemathat themoment
  is unclear,soI’mnotsurewe’reontarget for
  2063, but I’ll be the first champion!

ISBEINGA SCIENCECONSULTANTNOW,HARDER THAN

ITWASINFOREXAMPLE,KIRK’SDAY?

Oh,forsure.Sometimeswriterswillsay,‘I don’t

needa scienceconsultant,I havetheinternet’.

AndI don’tblamethem!Mecominginasa PhD

inastrophysicstobea scienceconsultantis

kindofa hardsell,becauseofthatexactpoint.I

thinka lotofwritershavehadbadexperiences

withscienceconsultants,theconsultantwill

justturnaroundandsay‘no, that doesn’t work.

Sorry, science says no!’

Butthat’swhereI takea differentapproach,

I’mnottheretobea nay-sayer.I’mthereto

takeanimprovapproachandsay,‘Allright,

yes!Youwanttodothiscrazytime-travel

story,let’sseehowwecanmakethatwork!’

I’llmakesurethattheydon’tputanything

‘wrong’inthescript.AndI lovethat.It

easestheburdenforthewriters,I havea lot

ofknowledgealready,butif I needtolook

somethingup,I knowexactlywheretolook.

I’ma sci-fifan– aswell as a scientist – so, for

me, it’s a dream job.

ARETHEREANYCONCEPTS IN SCI-FI THAT ARE JUST

NOTPOSSIBLE?

Asmuchasa lotofuswanttransporters,

especiallywhenwehavetospendhourssitting

inairports,it’sreallyoneofthosephysics-

says-nosituations,becauseoftheHeisenberg

UncertaintyPrinciple.Fortransporterstowork,

wewouldneedtobreakdownthebodyintoall

itsfundamentalcomponents,thenrebuildit

somehow.Thismeansyouwouldneedtoknow

exactlywhereallyourparticlesare,but

Heisenberg’sprincipledoesnotallowyoutodo

that– youcan’tknowexactlywheresubatomic

particlesareat anyonepointintime.

ButwhatSta rTr ekdidis brilliant,andthis is

thesortofthingI hopetobringtowriter’s

roomsinthefuture.Theyhavea component in

transporterscalledtheHeisenberg

Compensator,andtheydon’tsayanythingmore

thanthat.Butforussciencegeeks,we’relike,

‘oh,ok,sotheycompensateforHeisenberg’s

principlesomehow’.I loveit whenscience

fictiondoesthat.Aslongasthey’renotsaying

anything wrong when they try to explain it.

DRERIN’S

TOPSHOWS

(THATAREN’T

STAR TREK)

FIREFLY

(20022003)

Myloveforthisshowruns

sodeep,I getemotionaljust

hearingthethemesong.

The‘Verseis a placethat

feelssoreal,thecharacters

arelikefamilytous.It also

resultedinmyall-time

favouriteboardgame,

Shiny.

X-FILES

(19932018)

Thisis whatstartedit allfor

me,it hadeverythingI

loved.Seeinga red-headed

womenfightalienswith

logicandscience- shewas

everythingI wantedtobe,

andresultedinmewanting

to study physics.

FUTURAMA

(19992013)

Myphysicsprofessor

actuallymademewatch

thisasa contingentfor

beinghisresearchstudent!

Youcantellphysicistsand

mathamaticianswere

involvedinthewritingby

theamountofnerdyeaster

eggs there are!

DISCOVERMORE

d

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