How much science is in the movie Avatar?

Original author: Charles Q. Choi
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Yesterday I watched Avatar 3D. Honestly, I really liked the film, in connection with this I publish a translation of an article that tells how scientifically reliable the world shown there is.

Attention, the article has a lot of spoilers!

The action of the sci-fi blockbuster Avatar takes place on a planet with mysterious extraterrestrial technologies. Its director James Cameron not only shot other sci-fi epics, such as Aliens, Abyss and the first two Terminators, but was the president of the school science club, and has a brother who develops underwater robots.

So how much science is there in Avatar?

Pandora


The film takes place on the fictional Pandora, one of the many moons of the fictional gas giant the size of Saturn, Polyphemus, which is located in the real Alpha Centauri system, which is almost 4.4 light years from Earth and is the closest star system to the Sun.

Although astronomers have not yet discovered satellites outside our solar system, they expect this in the near future. And the Alpha Centauri system can be a good candidate. The largest of the two real, sun-like stars that make up this Alpha Centauri system is the fictional sun of Pandora. In fact, scientists may soon be able to detect habitable satellites using the James Webb telescope, as well as study their atmosphere in search of life-threatening gases such as oxygen and water vapor.

Rainforests cover much of Pandora's continent, which suggests that planets should be close enough to their sun to receive enough light. A few years ago, this might have seemed implausible, but most of the extraterrestrial planets discovered by scientists are still gas giants located extremely close to their stars.

However, life on the moon of the gas giant can present a number of problems. Jupiter’s moons exist within the intense radiation belt of electrons and ions trapped in the planet’s magnetic field and the gravitational attraction of Saturn, which leads to strong tidal effects that may have been torn apart by the ancient satellite, which led to the formation of rings, and today may be the cause of winds and volcanic eruptions on Titan.

What attracts humanity to Pandora is that it contains natural ores called "unobtanium", an old name often used in science fiction to refer to materials with physically impossible qualities. (Technically, since this is a mineral substance, it might be better to call it “unobtainite”) Unobtanium is the best superconductor known, and apparently works at room temperature. Just as real superconductors can levitate in the presence of a magnetic field, the mountains on Pandora apparently consist of unobtanium and can float in the powerful magnetic field of an anomaly located at a certain point on the planet. The film shows how these magnetic fields can interfere with the operation of devices, just as they would in real life - although, apparently,

High tech


The devices that give their name to the film are avatars - artificial organisms controlled by the power of thought over a wireless protocol. Organisms look like blue-skinned Na'vi humanoids, although they are hybrids that include the DNA of their operators.

Creating an organism that contains human and foreign DNA together can be far-fetched. Even if aliens have DNA, humans probably have more in common with corn or anything on Earth than with life on Pandora. However, in real life, scientists are making great strides when it comes to computer interfaces for controlling robotic arms or synthesized voices. Even without a direct interface to the brain, systems like TelePresence now allow surgeons to perform operations remotely.

People also run AMP suits, robots, which are essentially exoskeletons that move their drivers and give them incredible power and the ability to manipulate giant cannons and fight dinosaur-sized animals. The U.S. Army has been developing exoskeletons for many years to increase the strength of soldiers. For this, an internal combustion engine and mechanical hydraulics are used, which behaves like artificial muscles.

Aliens


The living forms that inhabit Pandora are often huge: giant dragons are flying creatures, tall trees like a skyscraper, and blue-skinned Na'vi are about 3 meters tall. Gravity on Pandora is lower than on Earth, which probably helps explain these dimensions. All living things have less weight, pushing them to the ground.

Most of the living forms on Pardor are hexapodal - that is, six-pointed, three pairs being arms, legs and wings. Six legs or more could be expected in higher gravity worlds to help them maintain their weight, but insects make up more than half of all known living things on Earth, and insects are the most common six-pointed creatures in the world.

Na'vi are four-legged, or having four limbs, just like humans. However, the film also shows the existence of other tetrapods - these are the Banshees or Ikranes, which have four limbs. This may provide food for the intriguing assumption that Na'vi are more closely related to these dragons genetically than any of the land inhabitants shown in the film, although both Na'vi and Banshees may actually come to four limbs as a result of evolution by loss two limbs, as happened with snakes on Earth, who got rid of their legs.

Apparently, all living organisms on Pandora are bioluminescent, that is, they can glow. Bioluminescence is also present on the Earth, for example, fireflies and algae. Many animals, apparently, have two pairs of eyes - on Earth, insects have not only a pair of complex eyes, but often a large number of simple eyes.

The nostrils of animals from Pandora are often located on their bodies, not on their faces, and there are often more than two of them. This suggests that instead of linking the digestive and respiratory tracts together, like humans and other mammals - which could lead to choking hazards - the animals on Pandora could separate these systems, like terrestrial insects that breathe through openings called spiracles.

The biggest stretch when it comes to biology Pandora may be Na'vi themselves. Despite their blue skin and tails, they look like people, with four limbs, nostrils on their faces and with a vertical gait, which cannot be too successful for living mainly on trees. Women have breasts, although, as Cameron himself admits, they are not placental mammals, and we were extremely lucky to find them when they were at a level of intelligence comparable to us - they could easily turn out to be animals, barely capable of language or creatures with advanced technology.

Nevertheless, one could forgive a little poetics in the film, which in other respects, apparently, tried to correspond to science as much as possible.

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