Archive for wormholes

Space and Time with Sam Neill

Posted in Biographical, R.I.P., Television, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , on July 13, 2026 by telescoper

I was very sad this morning to read the news that Sam Neill has passed away at the age of 78. He was a very fine and exceptionally versatile actor. Among many other roles I remember him well as the sadistic and corrupt Chief Inspector Chester Campbell in Peaky Blinders. I was impressed by his convincing Ulster accent but then found out he was actually born in Omagh, County Tyrone.

About 25 years ago (!) I made a very brief appearance in a BBC documentary series called Space for which Sam Neill (left) was the narrator. Apparently he only agreed to do the job on condition that they would film his segments at his home in New Zealand. I remember talking to the production team about Sam Neill and they all said he was not only very professional in his work but also a very nice man. These things don’t always go together…

After the episode I was in – the last of six – was broadcast, my Mam rang me. She didn’t mention my part at all, but asked “That Sam Neill, is he nice?”. I had to explain that I never met him, as they filmed his segments after all the other location sequences. “Oh well,” she said. “At least he knows your name”.

The following clip shows the item I took part in. Originally we were going to demonstrate wormholes using a snooker table, clever editing and reversed video. The producer, Jeremy Turner,  decided that wouldn’t look spectacular enough so instead we went to St Anton in Austria: I was flown over the Alps in a helicopter and then driven through the Arlberg tunnel in an impressively fast car. Well worth the cost to license fee payers, I’m sure, even if the three-day trip to Austria by me and a crew of six as well as the hire of the helicopter ended up as a mere three minutes of screen time.

The item is daft, I know, and I don’t really believe any of that stuff about wormholes. It was great fun doing it, but hard work. I remember after the shoot we had a few drinks to wrap it up then left on a very early flight the next morning to the UK. I got back to Nottingham University just in time for a 10am lecture.

Anyway, the episode I was in was called To Boldly Go. I remember suggesting to the producer that the only way to travel faster than light in the manner required was with a split infinitive drive, but they didn’t use that in the final script.

Notice how, in the helicopter sequence, I give the appearance of being completely terrified. A fine piece of acting by me, I thought. *Cough*

R.I.P. Sam Neill (1947-2026)

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That Wormhole Garbage

Posted in Astrohype, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , on December 2, 2022 by telescoper

I’m glad I was too busy today to respond earlier to a junk science story that has been doing the rounds, in the Guardian, in Quanta and even in Physics World to name but a few. Had I had time to write something as soon as I’d seen these pieces of tripe I would probably have responded with more expletives than would be seemly even for this blog. This sort of crap makes me rather angry, you see.

Meaningless Illustration

The story is basically that a group of scientists have created a “wormhole in space-time” that enables quantum teleportation.

Of course they have done no such thing. The paper, like so many stories hyped beyond the bounds of reason, is published in Nature. There are some interesting things in this publication, but nothing to justify the absurd claims that have propagated into the media. The authors must take some of the blame for allowing such tosh to be spread about in their names. I don’t think it will do them any good in the long run.

At least I hope it doesn’t.

You can read it for yourself and make your own , but my take is the following:

  • Did the authors create a wormhole (even a baby one) in a laboratory? Definitely not.
  • Did they discover anything whatsoever to do with quantum gravity? No way.
  • Did they even simulate a wormhole in a lab? Not even close.
  • Did they even make progress towards simulating a wormhole in a lab? Still no.

Apart from all that it’s fine.

The author of the Quanta article, Natalie Wolchover, writes:

Researchers were able to send a signal through the open wormhole, though it’s not clear in what sense the wormhole can be said to exist.

Au contraire, it’s absolutely clear that no wormhole can be said to exist in any sense whatsoever.

I hope this clarifies the situation.

UPDATE: I see that Peter Woit has gone to town on this on his blog here.

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To “boldly” go…

Posted in Biographical, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , on July 15, 2012 by telescoper

I thought anyone reading my rather gloomy recent posts could probably do with a laugh so I thought I’d put this up. It’s something I posted a while ago, in fact, but the video links on that have long since evaporated; a newer version appeared recently on Youtube so I thought I’d update it and re-post the piece.

This clip contains a short item  I did about twelve years ago for the BBC series Space, which was presented by Sam Neill. It was subsequently screened outside the UK with an alternative title, Universe. Originally we were going to demonstrate wormholes using a snooker table, clever editing and reversed video. However, the producer, Jeremy,  decided that wouldn’t look spectacular enough so instead we went to St Anton in Austria: I was flown over the Alps in a helicopter and then driven through the Arlberg tunnel in an impressively fast car. Well worth the cost to license fee payers, I’m sure, even if the three-day trip to Austria by me and a crew of six as well as the hire of the helicopter ended up as a mere three minutes of screen time…

The episode I was in, the last of 6 in the series, was called To Boldly Go. I remember suggesting to the producer that the only way to travel faster than light in the manner required was with a split infinitive drive, but they didn’t use that in the final script.

The segment I’m in starts at about 18:00 on the video. Notice how, in the helicopter sequence, I give the appearance of being completely terrified. A fine piece of acting by me, I thought. *Cough*

The item is daft, I know, and I don’t really believe any of that stuff about wormholes, but it was great fun doing it and I have to say the camera guys took some amazing footage of the mountains from the helicopter.

P.S. The next sequence, after mine, explains how the Anglo-Australian 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey was done in order to provide a map for future generations of intergalactic space travellers. Really?

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Space Time

Posted in Biographical, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , on April 30, 2009 by telescoper

I thought anyone reading my rather gloomy recent posts could probably do with a laugh so I thought I’d put this up.

These clips contain a short item  I did about nine or ten years ago for the BBC series Space, which was presented by Sam Neill. Originally we were going to demonstrate wormholes using a snooker table, clever editing and reversed video. The producer, Jeremy,  decided that wouldn’t look spectacular enough so instead we went to St Anton in Austria: I was flown over the Alps in a helicopter and then driven through the Arlberg tunnel in an impressively fast car. Well worth the cost to license fee payers, I’m sure, even if the three-day trip to Austria by me and a crew of six as well as the hire of the helicopter ended up as a mere three minutes of screen time…

The episode I was in, the last of 6 in the series, was called To Boldly Go. I remember suggesting to the producer that the only way to travel faster than light in the manner required was with a split infinitive drive, but they didn’t use that in the final script.

Notice how, in the helicopter sequence, I give the appearance of being completely terrified. A fine piece of acting by me, I thought. *Cough*

Unfortunately my bit is quite a long way into the first clip, so you need to wait until about 09.00, and it runs over the join into the second clip

The item is daft, I know, and I don’t really believe any of that stuff about wormholes… but it was great fun doing it.

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