We’re avid readers of Dr. David Saltzberg’s blog, The Big Blog Theory. As the science advisor for The Big Bang Theory, he blogs after each episode airs to give an in-depth explanation of the episode’s science. Last week’s blog caught our eye because, well, it’s about the episode that must have been filmed right before our visit to the show’s set!
In the blog, Dr. Saltzberg talks about what is written on the whiteboards in Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment in the episode “The Hot Troll Deviation.” Here’s a photo that we snapped:
Any guesses as to what is being graphed here? Hint: It’s from a movie!
Which brings us to our question…
What is your favorite or least favorite bit of science in a movie? (TV shows are also acceptable.) We actually did a podcast about some of the questionable (or downright awful) science in movies – but here’s your chance to weigh in!
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This brand new set of photos shows one of the James Webb Space Telescope’s primary mirror segments, all coated in gold. This isn’t a flight mirror, but what’s known as an engineering design unit (EDU). The real segments will look just like this, though. The real ones are currently being made and tested – they will ultimately be coated in gold just like this though, because gold reflects red light extremely well. (Which is what you want in an infrared telescope.)
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Click to listen! (6MB MP3, right-click to save)
Transcript (Text, PDF)
It’s summertime, which means that Hollywood is releasing a bunch of long-awaited, big-budget blockbusters! You can cool off in the theater with action, adventure, and… astronomy? Space science has been written into a variety of films – from the predictable genre of science fiction to romance, drama, and comedy. But do these movies get it right? Occasionally, but many movies have astronomers and other space-savvy members of the audience gritting their teeth and groaning at the misconceptions and misrepresentations upon the big screen.
We took our microphone into the hallways and offices of the Astrophysics Science Division and asked: What’s your pet peeve about astronomy in the movies? The opinions included represent that of the individuals we interviewed, and not Blueshift or NASA. Sound off on our website or Twitter about astronomy movies that drive you crazy!
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Blueshift Ponders | Maggie Masetti | 
October 21, 2010 1:15 am | 
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