The Three-Body Problem: The ‘unfilmable’ Chinese sci-fi novel set to be Netflix’s new hit 3 Body Problem
By James Balmont,Features correspondent BBC
From the Game of Thrones showrunners, Netflix’s new series 3 Body Problem is adapted from a bestselling Chinese sci-fi novel that became a huge hit, despite China’s historic censorship of the genre.
One day in Beijing, in 1967, astrophysics student Ye Wenjie witnesses her father being beaten to death by paramilitary forces. Later, she joins a military program in Mongolia as part of an agreement to avoid her own punishment, on the condition that she can never leave the base. At this chilly outpost, beneath a giant parabolic antenna, she loses all faith in mankind. She commits her life to her research, making a scientific breakthrough that leads to the broadcasting of a high-powered radio signal into deep space. This action will have grave consequences, and it all stems from that fateful day in Beijing.
This is merely an overview of the universe-spanning plot of The Three-Body Problem – a science fiction epic that also takes in secret science programs; an alien species in a solar system beyond the stars; and a strange video game depicting the rise and fall of great civilisations over thousands of years. Beijing-born Liu Cixin’s bestselling novel, the first in the Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, was once thought unadaptable for its brain-rattling time jumps, philosophical dilemmas and dense explorations of scientific theory (a Chinese film adaptation was shelved in 2017). But it now reaches global screens via a Netflix series – the belated comeback project of Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss. Early reviews are split over whether they’ve quite pulled off the gambit.
US company SpaceX’s Starship rocket made major progress in its third test flight on Thursday, completing many of its objectives.
The two-stage vehicle produced a clean getaway from its Texas launch site, to send its upper portion around the globe to a re-entry over the Indian Ocean.
Radio contact was lost towards the end but the firm said it was “incredible to see how far we got this time around”.
SpaceX boss Elon Musk was delighted with the outcome of the flight, too.
He posted on X, formerly Twitter, that “Starship will take humanity to Mars”.
Huge crowds had gathered on nearby beaches to watch the launch
When the 120m-tall (395ft) vehicle launched in April and November last year, it blew apart not long into the missions.
Mr Musk was looking for significant improvement from his SpaceX team this time – and he got it.
The rocket left its launch mount with a huge rumble from its 33 engines, and the vehicle then proceeded to step perfectly through all of the anticipated phases in the climb to space.
Separation of the bottom half, the booster, from the top half, the Ship, occurred right on cue, two minutes and 44 seconds into the flight.
The ship then powered on, crossing the Atlantic and southern Africa.
Video cameras sent back spectacular views of Earth from more than 100 miles up.
SpaceX The Ship was aiming for a splashdown in the Indian Ocean
Then came the task of re-entry, when the ship needed to descend to a splashdown in the ocean.
Video imagery once again captured incredible scenes as hot gases enveloped the vehicle, just before radio contact was interrupted.
Controllers reported shortly after that the Ship had been “lost”, presumably because it had broken up.
SPACEX The hot gases (plasma) of re-entry surrounded the ship as it came down
Not every milestone was ticked off. It was hoped the booster after separation might have been able to power its way back to a controlled drop into the sea just off the Texas coast. It got close but it looked as though the vehicle came in way too fast and was lost before hitting the water.
The Ship, too, was expected to re-ignite an engine to initiate the re-entry, but this was skipped for a reason not immediately apparent.
A SPIRAL COMET: Astronomers are monitoring Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks as it approaches the sun for a close encounter in April. Several amateurs have noticed something strange about the comet’s core: It’s a spiral. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.
Solar flare alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive instant text messages when strong solar flares are underway Above: The spiral core of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks photographed by Jan Erik Vallestad of Sunnfjord, Norway
Scientists have revealed a new, remarkably complete fossil – a 16ft (5m)-long aquatic reptile from the Triassic period.
The creature dates back 240 million years and has been dubbed a “dragon” because of its extremely long neck.
It is called Dinocephalosaurus orientalis, a species that was originally identified back in 2003.
This spectacular new fossil has allowed scientists to see the full anatomy of this bizarre prehistoric beast.
Dr Nick Fraser, from National Museums Scotland, who was part of the international team that studied the fossil, said this was the first time scientists had been able to see it in full. He described it as “a very strange animal”.
“It had flipper-like limbs and its neck is longer than its body and tail combined,” he said.
The researcher speculated that a “long, bendy and flexible neck”, with its 32 separate vertebrae, might have provided a hunting advantage – allowing Dinocephalosaurus orientalis to search for food in crevices under the water.
The fossil was discovered in ancient limestone deposits in southern China.
“This discovery just adds to the weirdness of the Triassic,” Dr Fraser told BBC News. “And every time we look in these deposits, we find something new.”
Marlene Donelly
Artist Marlene Donelly recreated a scene of Dinocephalosaurus orientalis swimming with prehistoric fish.
The paper describing a set of new fossils of the animal is published in the journal Earth and Environmental Science: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Space Weather News for Feb. 22, 2024 https://spaceweather.com https://www.spaceweatheralerts.com
Giant sunspot AR3590 just unleashed two major X-class solar flares. The double blast approximately coincided with a widely-reported outage of cell phone service; however, experts agree that the flares were probably not responsible. More flares are in the offing. The sunspot has an unstable ‘delta-class’ magnetic field, and it is turning toward Earth. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.
Above: An X1.8-class solar flare on Feb. 21st (2307 UT) observed at multiple wavelengths by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory