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The Science Of Star Wars (book)
''The Science of Star Wars'' is a nonfiction popular science book written by former NASA astrophysicist Jeanne Cavelos first published on April 15, 1999, by St. Martin's Press. The book uses fictional characters, worlds, and technology from the ''Star Wars'' universe as starting points for discussion of factual concepts in cosmology, biology, and technology, and discusses in a "semi-serious" fashion the scientific probability of such fictional elements. "It takes the fantastic elements of the movies—like faster-than-light travel—and examines the current state of science to see if they're possible". Summary Chapter 1: Planetary Environments covers topics such as cosmology, planetary science, desert ecosystems, and the biochemical requirements for the origin of life, using fictional ''Star Wars'' locales such as Tatooine and Endor as starting points for discussion. Chapter 2: Aliens discusses biological and evolutionary concepts such as bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion, mamm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeanne Cavelos
Jeanne Cavelos (born May 26, 1960 in Summit, New Jersey) is an American science fiction writer, editor, and former NASA astrophysicist. She is the founder and a main director of the Odyssey Writing Workshop. She is the author of ''The Science of Star Wars'' and is the first person documented saying " May the 4th Be with You," which has led to the creation of "Star Wars Day" on May 4th. Early Life and Scientific Career Cavelos began writing science fiction as a child, but wanted to do something that she felt was more important. Inspired by Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes, Cavelos decided to study astrophysics with the goal of becoming an astronaut. She went on to receive her BS in astronomy from Michigan State University in 1982. Cavelos first worked as an astrophysicist and mathematician. She taught astronomy at Michigan State University and Cornell University and worked at the Astronaut Training Museum at NASA's Johnson Space Center. However, she became dissatisfied ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bipedalism
Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' and ''pes'' 'foot'). Types of bipedal movement include walking, running, and hopping. Several groups of modern species are habitual bipeds whose normal method of locomotion is two-legged. In the Triassic period some groups of archosaurs (a group that includes crocodiles and dinosaurs) developed bipedalism; among the dinosaurs, all the early forms and many later groups were habitual or exclusive bipeds; the birds are members of a clade of exclusively bipedal dinosaurs, the theropods. Within mammals, habitual bipedalism has evolved multiple times, with the macropods, kangaroo rats and mice, springhare, hopping mice, pangolins and hominin apes ( australopithecines, including humans) as well as various other extinct groups evolving th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Droid (Star Wars)
In the ''Star Wars'' space opera franchise, a droid is a fictional robot possessing some degree of artificial intelligence''.'' The term is a clipped form of "android", a word originally reserved for robots designed to look and act like a human. The word "android" itself stems from the New Latin word "androīdēs", meaning "manlike", itself from the Ancient Greek ''ἀνδρος'' (andrós) (genitive of ''ἀνήρ'' (anḗr), "man (adult male)" or "human being") + ''-ειδής'' (-eidḗs), itself from ''εἶδος'' (eîdos, "form, image, shape, appearance, look"). Writer and director George Lucas first used the term "droid" in the second draft script of ''Star Wars,'' completed 28 January 1975. However, the word does have a precedent: science fiction writer Mari Wolf used the word in her story "Robots of the World! Arise!" in 1952. It's not known if Lucas knew of this reference when he wrote ''Star Wars'', or if he came up with the term independently. The word "droid" has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between the natural and social sciences. Psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, linking the discipline to neuroscience. As social scientists, psychologists aim to understand the behavior of individuals and groups.Fernald LD (2008)''Psychology: Six perspectives'' (pp.12–15). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Hockenbury & Hockenbury. Psychology. Worth Publishers, 2010. Ψ (''psi''), the first letter of the Greek word ''psyche'' from which the term psychology is derived (see below), is commonly associated with the science. A professional practitioner or researcher involved in the discipline is called a psychologist. Some psychologists can also be classified as behavioral or cognitive scientists. Some ps ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the science, scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a Multidisciplinary approach, multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developmental biology, cytology, psychology, physics, computer science, chemistry, medicine, statistics, and Mathematical Modeling, mathematical modeling to understand the fundamental and emergent properties of neurons, glia and neural circuits. The understanding of the biological basis of learning, memory, behavior, perception, and consciousness has been described by Eric Kandel as the "epic challenge" of the Biology, biological sciences. The scope of neuroscience has broadened over time to include different approaches used to study the nervous system at different scales. The techniques used by neuroscientists have expanded enormously, from molecular biology, molecular and cell biology, cellular studies of indivi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech recognition, computer vision, translation between (natural) languages, as well as other mappings of inputs. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' of Oxford University Press defines artificial intelligence as: the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. AI applications include advanced web search engines (e.g., Google), recommendation systems (used by YouTube, Amazon and Netflix), understanding human speech (such as Siri and Alexa), self-driving cars (e.g., Tesla), automated decision-making and competing at the highest level in strategic game systems (such as chess and Go). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jabba The Hutt
Jabba Desilijic Tiure, more commonly known as Jabba the Hutt, is a fictional character and minor antagonist in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Created by George Lucas, Jabba is voiced by Larry Ward with several puppeteers inside a one-ton puppet portraying him in ''Return of the Jedi''. He was originally supposed to first appear in ''Star Wars'' (1977) as a stop motion character with Declan Mulholland as his stand-in. Jabba was later added into the film as a CGI character when it was re-released in Special Edition in 1997. He also appears in the prequel movie ''The Phantom Menace''. The character is a large slug-like creature based on annelid worms and originally designed as an apelike figure. In the films, Jabba is a powerful crime lord on the planet Tatooine, who is of the Hutt species. He is obese and often exemplifies his characterizations of lust and greed by having slave alien girls in his throne room. He places a bounty on smuggler Han Solo, sending several bounty hunters to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hutt (Star Wars)
The Hutts are an alien species in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. They are rotund, voracious and grotesque-looking slug-like creatures with a predisposition to being leaders in organized crime. The most famous Hutt and the first to be depicted was Jabba the Hutt in the films '' Return of the Jedi'', the Special Edition release of ''A New Hope'' (in a formerly- deleted scene modified and re-inserted into the film), and ''The Phantom Menace''. Jabba and numerous other Hutts appear in various works of the ''Star Wars'' expanded universe, which greatly elaborates on their history, culture and role in galactic society. Portrayal in the ''Star Wars'' universe Appearances A Hutt first appeared in the film '' Return of the Jedi'' (1983), and was designed by Phil Tippett. Jabba the Hutt is a crime lord that keeps an imprisoned Han Solo as a trophy. Only mentioned in the original releases of the first two Star Wars films, he reappeared in a deleted scene that was completed for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ewok
The Ewoks (singular: Ewok) are a fictional species of small, furry, mammaloid, bipeds in the ''Star Wars'' universe. They inhabit the forest moon of Endor and live in arboreal huts and other simple dwellings, being seen as primitive in comparison with other sentient species. Ewoks debuted in the 1983 feature film ''Return of the Jedi'' and have since appeared in two made-for-television films, ''The Ewok Adventure'' (1984) and '' Ewoks: The Battle for Endor'' (1985), as well as a 2D animated series, several books and games, and briefly in the 2019 feature film '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker''. Concept and creation George Lucas created the Ewoks because he wanted ''Return of the Jedi'' to feature a tribe of primitive creatures that bring down the technological Empire. He had originally intended the scenes to be set on the Wookiee home planet, but as the film series evolved, the Wookiees became technologically skilled. Lucas reversed the syllables to designate a new sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jawa (Star Wars)
Jawa may refer to: Places Southeast Asia *Java ( jv, Jawa), the most populous and fifth-largest island in Indonesia and the site of its capital, Jakarta **East Java, also called Jawa Timur, a province on the Indonesian island of Java **Central Java, also called Jawa Tengah, a province on the Indonesian island of Java **West Java, also called Jawa Barat, a province on the Indonesian island of Java * Chek Jawa, a cape and the name of its 100-hectare wetlands located on the south-eastern tip of Pulau Ubin off coast of Singapore * Karimunjava, an archipelago of 69 islands in the Java Sea, Indonesia, approximately 80 kilometres northwest of Jepara * Padang Jawa, a small town in Selangor, Malaysia *Parit Jawa, a main town in Muar district, Johor, Malaysia Middle East *Jawa, Jordan, archaeological site in Jordan * Tall Jawa, Iron Age village in central Jordan * Zaduqabad, Iran, a village in Markazi Province, Iran, also known as Jāwa Entertainment * Jawa (''Star Wars''), a fictional ali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wookiee
Wookiees () are fictional humanoid aliens in the ''Star Wars'' universe, native to the forest planet Kashyyyk. They are distinguished from humans by their gigantism, hirsutism, and physical strength. The most prominent Wookiee is Chewbacca, co-pilot of the ''Millennium Falcon'' alongside his best friend Han Solo. Inspiration According to an interview with creator George Lucas, the inspiration for the Wookiee was Lucas's dog, Indiana (whose name is used in Lucas's Indiana Jones movies): "He was the prototype for the Wookiee. He always sat beside me in the car. He was big, a big bear of a dog." During the climactic chase scene in ''THX 1138'', one of the robotic cops, voiced by actor Terry McGovern, improvises: "I think I ran over a Wookiee back there", and thus the word was born. "Wookey" was the surname of a friend of Terry's, Ralph Wookey, and Terry thought it would be a funny in-joke to include his friend's name in the soundtrack for ''THX-1138''. In one episode of Anima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bioluminescence
Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living organisms. It is a form of chemiluminescence. Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including some bioluminescent bacteria, and terrestrial arthropods such as fireflies. In some animals, the light is bacteriogenic, produced by symbiotic bacteria such as those from the genus '' Vibrio''; in others, it is autogenic, produced by the animals themselves. In a general sense, the principal chemical reaction in bioluminescence involves a light-emitting molecule and an enzyme, generally called luciferin and luciferase, respectively. Because these are generic names, luciferins and luciferases are often distinguished by the species or group, e.g. firefly luciferin. In all characterized cases, the enzyme catalyzes the oxidation of the luciferin. In some species, the luciferase requires other cofactors, such as calcium or magnesium ions, and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
