SVAGES OF SPACESHIPEARTH FALLI995 09> ln2684! |Marui VOL. 171NO.8 FAL 1995 EDITOR IN CHIEF & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT &C0.0: KATHY KEETON ‘SENIOR VPIEDITOR IN CHIEF: KEITH FERRELL EXECUTIVE VPIGRAPHICS DIRECTOR: FRANK DEVINO [MANAGING EDITOR: CAROLINE DARK ART DIRECTOR: NICHOLAS E.TOREILO 4 38 First Word Continuum By Grogory Benford 46 6 The Science of 8) Communications ‘Star Trek 10 By Denny Atkin ti Forum Science ByKeith Ferell icns fiction to bring 4 tolifethe wings tools and technology ByDenny Atkin of Star Trek 18 Puis,areview of Star Medicine Trek CD- ByStove Nadis ROMs and technical Fuzzy Fysicians documentation 20 54 Mind Looking for the By Bennett Daviss Sweet Spot 22 in N-Dimensional Wheels Space ByDenny Atkin By Kathieen Stein Pioneering Sphere-packing, the way ccake-baking, 24 sweet-spot making Sounds design By Byron Poole of experiments: a7 the genius of d Electronic Universe David Doehiert and By Gregg Keizer Neil Sloane 28 ON THE COVER 62 Space Beyond Death tr By Bill Lawren Painting by Halime Sorayama, and Dying 30 ‘Accelebration of humankind meeting the future By Melanie Menagh Kid Stuff ‘Additional art credits, page 114. What do By Chris Krelgaard Omnireaders believe? Cig-O-Saurs The results 32 ‘of our exclusive survey se Books of your beliefs 8 yRichard Far about the afterdeath. 4 ‘ta (SS 0142671) publish nth United Sse and Can by Cre babs rst i. 277 Fa Aen Now Von fre Vou 7 habe & Copy 6 6 by Ore losers ester is Al his feces Te Tracotd Ov egos tasemarcel Ont Pests romana ud Prod nfa USADY RR Dotaty Sos ine ond snus Usa Caracas Unted Sts eat parece by Gute Catan Copan 33 Hck {het Hatlanac 0 OE. Dated 9, wa Mongomary St, Jere) Gy. AU G7302. Eno extant copes N wt it gan a pain: Ay sry ben ct Es ‘ieclane al rexponsty to von rected mat an alge n partons hort ran De ay falar To Herons reg, PB 3, ng maybe rprodueed nae es er pean Ing ot Gena eaedntal Sing copies $490 H US. APO, and Canada T fe plopey of Or Pubicanons Inenatensl Lig. Leiere sent fo Grn oF ie ediare became the proparty of ho magazine 2 OM Printed in USA, Canadien GST Registration #7126607589 \niaeimenilieve? suey ath. 68 Resurrecting Dinosaurs, By Charles Pellegrino ‘According to this scientist, dinosaurs ‘may walk the earth again within 20 years. 73 ‘Science Fiction By Keith Ferell (Chung Kuo 74 Fiction: ‘Some Likelt Cold By John Kessel Marilyn Monroe survives. Legato By Ray Bradbury IFthe birds disappear, dothey sill sing? 84 Fiction: Three Portraits rom Heisenberg By Kathe Koja and Barry Malzberg ‘Awoman sees her ile reflected inane drenched windows 90 The Truth About Roswell By Dava Sobel ‘Acomplete history of one of this, century's ‘most controversial UFO encounters 100 Star Witness By Kar T. Plock ‘An interview withthe motician of Roswell, Glenn Dennis, 106 ‘The Case of the Vanishing Nurses By Paul McCarthy What really happened to the five Anny nurses at Foswell? 15, Pictorial By Manfred Kage 19 Interview: Danie! Dennett By Rober K. J. killhefer 134 Games By Scot Mortis By Bob Quinn ‘Just as Sorayarnasilustration depts the conjoining of man withthe future, this fist issue of the new, reformatted Omniis dedicated tothe future. We offer a fact. based look at the futuristic legacy of ‘Star Trek, he logistics of resurtecng the ancient giants, the ‘next generation of mathematics, and the results of whal you believe about the final future: the alter- death. We hope you enjoy this Omniof the future.Not only a respected pysl- Greg cist, Benford Is one of ‘the leading solenes-fieion ‘ltrs of his veneration. His Galactic Center series Is ‘bublished by Bantam Books. 4 ones FIRST WORD A UFO FOUNDATION: Working together to find answers. By Gregory Benford FO fans hate scientists, and vice versa. Or so it seems, reading their mutually acrimonious exchanges, in porson and online alike. I got the definite impression of angry people shouting past each other folie effect. There até good reasons for this, nt the leas of whichis sim- ple scientific skepticism. As a physicist, 'm sympathetic to the argument that nearly ha a cen- tury after the frst “flying saucer soar,” we haveno solid, physical, generally agreed upon evidence. Studies of ghosts have the same trouble. No data, no science. Personally | think the extrater- rostral vistor explanation of the widespread reported sightings is uite unikely—but not disproved or impossible, and there's the ‘ub. In science, hypotheses must bbe checked and rechecked. Sci- enlists speak of falsifying theo- ries, not proving them, for no root is ever final. A theory is only as good as its latest rub against realy The alien visitor theory of UFOs has not been falsified, but it has few advocates, perhaps none, among scientists—and they do no research into it. So the subject is mired in coverage via media such as The X-Files and the National Enquirer. Instead of the high-decibet cat fight we now witness, how about some serous study? Ifthe alien visitor explanation holds water, then their frequent Visits imply a base somewhere in ur solar system. (| assume they don't have fasterthan-ight travel so convenient that zipping across the galaxy for dinner is fashion- able.) Obviously, they're making it tough for scientists to get any physical proof of them, Why? We cant say—aliers are tricky. But they cant brush away all their footprints, and a serious UFO enthusiast should be wiling to track them down. That’s where the scientists come in To be taken seriously by sci- entists, | think UFO fans should support—obviously including funding—research which could uncover convincing evidence. UFOlogists would gain Doth credibility and, perheps, some solid arguing points. They should try thinking like scientists, too, Aliens might do anything, but they need 2 place to sleep, regroup, refuel. Where? There are several likely spots where UFOs could conveniently base. Obviously, the moon— probably on the other side, to be secretive. Searching for them there implies a careful analysis of the high-resolution mapping data acquired in 1994 by the Glememine spacecralt. Such scrutiny is going on right now, but not with an agenda of searching for a UFO base. For quite small sums, a single data processor could cast fresh eye ai the data and repor. oddities, ‘There are certain to besome. Think further. There are con- venient places to park a space- stip nearby. The lunar Lagrangian points are stable zones, leading and traling the roon in its orbit A base elt there would not crit from tidal tugs. Are there UFOS lurking there? In the early 1980s two as- troncmes looked for shiny objeots reflecting sunlight at the La- e098 jd by ameat- rsuch as ciate curator leonology and the dis- embryo, imately 80- Jembryo haa Tolgod, original ne 69g, cued ducked along with the ents also tiny skulls of| “The egg served," notes nshuls are tng that they /eftover y patents 10 rotsping” f why the dit ys were ume nest can't the infor je at this time, ut, but the sat fascinating foosaur be ‘Ana Tawasha rat els wie’ bith day.” —Matio Rocco Jim Edwards has figued outa way to ecics tha tmount of paper procucts Clogging the nation’ end fis uhle at the same tme relping out agricul Ertnards a ol scirtt at the USDA and at Auburn Univers, both in oun, ‘sbuma~-dectded 1 ty totum hose paper wastes, ino combination o ft flzerand mulch that ould tees! crop growth anc tne the 20 He's tested the cor- cept in plots in Alabama, Noth Dakota, and Texas Ordnary paper canitbe used because it takes too fongto decompose. n- stead, Edvard has ted ginsing up a mix of pa er products and anal ma- putand spreasing ton fields in the form of small pel- les abou hal an nchin Ganeler and aninchiong, ‘ter the mixture was spread over test plots, te amount of soles’. surface water runoff and wind foson was reduced by about 40 and 95 percent, tespectvey. The sl - tained more moisture, and its organic matter con- tent also rose. On top of it all the waste materials did a better ob of inhibiting weed growth than stand- ard herbicides. Yard refuse—grass, leaves, and branches— ‘could also be turned into pel lets and distibuted over farmland along with paper pellets. According to Edwards, mxed paper and yard trimmings constitute Nearly 60 percent of the raw ‘material placed in land- fils today, so that his strat- ‘THE BLOOD VESSELS OF A BLUE WHALE ‘ARE SO LARGE THAT A TROUT COULD SWIM THROUGH THEM, a gy, if adopted, could make a major dentin the solid waste problem. The biggest uncertainty relates to the economic feasibilty ofthe plan. “Since the profit magn n agricul ture is smal you have to look atthe returns,” he says. “We prob- ably ought 10 continue recy- ling high- quay paper which can be sold fora rea- sonable price. But at some point, there's paper that nobody wants. Thats where agriculture Alusy novel or newspaper may just work comes in.’ ‘tor as manure than as reading material —Steve Nadis| Techies can munch out while checking ther mal, surfing the Web, or playing Doom atthe INFOMARTTs High Tech Café. AND ASIDE OF © Spemy Univac lighting fx- CHIPS {ures bul fromld video monitor cases, and artifi- ‘Techies who get the jitore cial plans buit rom «when eating out be- ‘computer harcware. There cause theyre away fron are even museum- their Internet access Quality displays, Voss says, might want to visitthe High including “the frst fax. ‘ech Café at Dallas's IN- modem and abotlle of FOMART. Seating is avail. toner from thetfrst able in smoking, non- Xerox copier” smoking, and modem: INFOMAFT brings tech- ready sections (com: nology providers and plete with power outles buyers together, Voss says. and phone jacks). {In 1994 about 400,000 Visitors can enjoy items people visited the 1.6 mit Ike the Virtual Burger lion-square-foct facility, (made from turkey breast), which hosted about 75 (CD.ROM-ano Chicken, trade shows, INFO- the Mother Board (a stuffed MART Corporate Evalua- potato), and Token tion Centers, where Onion Rings, Bar offerings major corporate Informa- include the Fatal Error tion Technology groups and the Hard Disk Crash, take residence at INFO- What about those. MART “o evaluate tech- without computers? Netto nology on a daily real-time Worry, replies David, basis and do cucial con- cept testing,” are popular between meals, Voss says, "Weave acouple ofcom- __Atalmost any happy puters down there that hour youllfind laptop users are activated for their use. at the High Tech Café’s “The architectural tables. Says Voss: "Theyre theme of the restaurantis down there, Theyre «eclectic technology,’ plugged in. They're using Voss says, including await it. tS a fun place.” station made froma =J. Bake Lambert ar