Not tonight/String Theory

Well, I guess at this point my picture gallery from the weekend isn’t going to happen tonight. That said, I do have an update: I’ve narrowed it down to the best 177 of 323 shots taken on the weekend. All that’s left now is to captionize ’em.
At 8pm tonight I was desperately flipping channels trying to find something entertaining to watch on TV. Nothing but sitcoms, none of them any good. And then I stumbled across “NOVA: The Elegant Universe” on PBS, a three-part series based on the book of the same name by Brian Greene.
Let me tell you… it has been years since I have been so captivated by something on television. The hour-long show discussed “string theory” — the idea that the smallest particles — strings, speculated to exist — may be able to explain the structure of the universe as we know it, and even goes so far as to propose separate but parallel universes! It really brought back my first days of physics in high school… the excitement of learning that mathematics could describe the world around me. After the show was over I found myself reeling, trying to digest some of the concepts presented.
What really blew me away was how well Brian Greene was able to relay extremely complex ideas in way an average viewer could understand. Really fantastic.
During the credits for the show, an announcer offered the viewer a chance to, among other things, “play with strings” on the PBS website. Ha! I had to check it out, and when I did, I discovered Brian Greene was doing a live-chat over at Seed Magazine. Of course I joined the chat, which proved very interesting (there should be a transcript of it online at the Seed Magazine website soon).
Guess what else? Starting tomorrow, you can watch all three hour-long parts at NOVA’s The Elegant Universe website! (A preview and the first two hours are up now.) Crazy. Heard of the big-bang theory? “The Elegant Universe” talks about its flaws and alternatives. If you have even the slightest interest in science, check it out. You won’t be disappointed.


Comments

One response to “Not tonight/String Theory”

  1. neil Avatar

    WoW..
    Nova is awesome, I’ve been watching that show since I was a little one. If you recall. Always a step up from the usual crap pervading network TV, and no commercials!
    Of course, it’s all thanks to Viewers Like You (and me), apparently, whether we donate or not. Aww yea! Time to go shopping for a superiority complex!