Popular Mechanics : Debunking Lost's Science

[Gertch]

I didn't see anything spoilerish but perhaps more speculation like all of us.

At its geeky core, Lost is a show about science and faith and it's undeniable that this season, science is taking center stage. As the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 try to unravel the island's mysteries in an effort to get off of it, they are thwarted again and again by temporal distortion, electromagnetic energy and time travel of the mind not to mention a really cranky smoke monster that may or may not have a basis in science.

In a revealing interview with Popular Mechanics on the eve of Lost's return from a strike-induced hiatus, show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse insisted that they agonize over the real-life science behind the sci-fi drama as much as they do over six-year plot arcs and love triangles.

Popular Mechanics : Debunking Lost's Science

I love the two images they hit you right away with.

 

[Mr Light]

Well there was one spoiler:

Spoiler

The Orchid is a particle accelerator. Did they have particle accelerators back in the 70s? I guess it opens a micro black hole to enable the wormhole to travel to Tunisia ... which is a little disappointing as I was hoping the Island itself was a micro black hole under the Swan which it tapped.

 

[Gertch]

On the page I linked?

 

[Mr Light]

Yeah, there was a whole conversation about the particle accelerator in Europe and then they said if you interest that then you'll be interested in the end of the season (ie the Orchid).

 

[Gertch]

Oh my. I took your

Spoiler

tags as [ quote] tags for some reason. No wonder I couldn't find that text. I took that part as almost tongue in cheek.

 

[Mr Light]

From that interview:

What sort of science and techy stuff can we look forward to proving or debunking when the show comes back?
DL: We basically did an Orchid Darma orientation film for the Orchid for Comic Con last year, which is available online, I'm sure, and was set up for where we were going in our season finale. Our characters are in fact going to discover the Orchid and see a bit more of that film. There will be plenty to sort of fact check and debunk on that axis.
CC: We can say that we've been very interested in these physicists who have been building this particle accelerator in the Alps, and there's been a lot of debate and concern about what's going to happen when they start smashing these particles into each other. People who are following that will probably enjoy some of the stuff that we're doing in the upcoming run of episodes.


^^ I take that to mean the Orchid is a particle accelerator.