00:00 GVs
window display - Dalek (Dr Who), Alien, Yoda (Star Wars)
Exterior
“Forbidden Planet” Book Shop
GVs
interior displays
c.u.
Ian Stewart’s book (“Heaven”)
Wide
- Customer lifts Ian Stewart book off shelf and looks at it
Ian
Stewart walks through Exhibition Hall
Wide
– entrance to Exhibition
Alien
figures in Exhibition Hall (x3)
Guide Voice: Aliens. Creatures from
another world. We have a fascination with life on other planets
– so much so that this cult bookshop in London’s West
End does a booming trade in books, magazines and models all
relating to aspects of science fiction.
But if we’re so fascinated with life on other planets why
are we so limited in our ability to imagine anything much more than
pointed ears or strange coloured skin when we picture alien
races?
In part it’s because we imagine higher life forms in our
own image and, of course, prior to computer graphics, sci fi movies
have always depended on actors to portray aliens. But Ian
Stewart, a published Sci-Fi author who’s books are marked by
their use of wildly imaginative alien life-forms, thinks
there’s more to it than just our limited imaginations.
Ian’s also a Professor of Mathematics at the University of
Warwick and one of a group of scientists who have advised
London’s ScienceMuseum on their latest exhibition –
“The Science of Aliens”.
This fascinating exhibition takes a scientific view of just what
alien life might look like; why it’s likely to be so much
more bizarre than we imagine.
01:05 SOT: Ian Stewart, Professor of Mathematics,
University of Warwick – “It’s
commonly assumed that life on other planets will need things like
oxygen, water, carbon; will be very similar to life on this
planet. That’s almost certainly not true; there are lots of
other possibilities. Scientists have been investigating these
alternative ways to…different kinds of chemistry for life.
It might be based on nitrogen, hydrogen, sulphur - all sorts of
other elements; not just carbon and oxygen as here. Now, we
don’t know this is happening elsewhere in the universe but we
do know that scientifically it’s possible – The Royal
Society had a conference on the topic ‘Is Water Essential for
Life?’ and the answer that they came up with was – no,
it is not.”
01:48 Gulper
Eel in display case
Hagfish
in display case
Wide
of exhibition hall
c.u
on exhibit digital display
Guide Voice: Given the many weird and wonderful
creatures that inhabit our own world, such as these deep sea fish
that are among the exhibits, it’s no real leap of faith to
imagine how strange alien life could really be. And it’s this
intention to fire the public’s imagination and capture their
interest that lies behind this innovative exhibition.
02:06 SOT: Stephen Foulger, Curator, “The Science
of Aliens” Exhibition – “ I think
what this exhibition does is it takes a subject we think
we’re kind of familiar with – aliens in science fiction
- and actually gives us different ways to think about it and turns
it all on its head. We start off with science fiction and show
people why we imagine science-fiction aliens the way we do and then
bring visitors through to show how scientists have begun to think
about the possibilities for alien life and ultimately it shows us
that there might be things that are little out there and there
might be things that are green but they won’t be men. But
it’s all the more fascinating for that; the possibilities for
real alien life are more amazing than anything that we’ve
thought of yet.”
02:47 SOT: Professor Stewart –
“The attempt here was to combine scientific rigor and
really look at the science of alien worlds sensibly and solidly.
Not to be speculative but on the other hand to be imaginative about
it, to realize that aliens will be different from us. That’s
the whole point of the word alien, that alien planets will be
different from this planet - and in particular the big
principal in biology, that creatures evolve to suit the environment
they’re in; if you put them on a different planet, if life
was evolving on a different planet then it would find different
solutions to the problems of being a living
creature."
03:28 GVs
– Prof. Stewart looking at exhibits
GVs
– children and general public with exhibits
Guide Voice: Part of Professor Stewart’s
role at WarwickUniversity is to further the public understanding of
science; something the University is strongly committed to and
something that Professor Stewart whole-heartedly endorses.
03:39 SOT: Prof. Stewart –
“The importance of an exhibition like this is it reaches
out to the public, it takes a subject that lots and lots of people
are really interested in and then uses that in a way to show them
how science informs thinking about that subject. I’ve always
felt that public understanding of science – what does that
mean? It doesn’t mean that the public are ignorant;
we’ve got to educate them. It means that we should use what
the public is interested in to tell them what scientists are doing,
it’s to inform them of what we’re doing,
not to teach them science.”
04:18 GV
exterior ScienceMuseum and Exhibition banners
Wide
– Cinema Screen display in Exhibition Hall
Guide Voice: In 2006 this exhibition will head
off on a 5 year World tour. This time the Aliens really have
landed!!
04:27
END
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