DUNE Part One | Science vs Cinema

Astrophysicist Dr. Andy Howell takes a look at the scientific DUNE Part One:
🏜️ Desert Planets |🕴🏻Stillsuits | 🪱 Sandworms | 🌋 Spice | 🚁 Ornithopters

- Could you have a desert planet like Arrakis?
- What about the technological feasibility of Stillsuits and evolution of Sandworms?
- All things Spice:
- Enhanced physiology
- Historical empires pursuing rare resources
- Navigating between the stars
- Ornithopters and dragonfly inspirations

#Dune #Science #DuneMovie

[swordmonkey]

Sandworms detect ALL vibrations, but are attracted to linear rhythms since that's usually made by a creature.

As a side note, I think the director hit on something very important with his sandworms using high frequency vibration to move through the sand. Shields are deadly in the open desert because they attract worms like a magnet. Now sandworms are VERY territorial so it the sandworms might interpret the shield's frequencies as another sandworm and go to attack it.

[axelhopfinger]

The sandworms liquifying the sand through vibrations in order to make it behave like a liquid, so they can "swim" through it, is indeed a clever idea which makes them that much more functional and believable in the movie.

[dordogne]

Spice doesn't give you the ability to control others with the "voice." It's something the Bene Gesserit training can provide all on its own. Melenge can be used by many to do lot's of weird things, for instance, if they are part of the BG breading program, they even can access the memories of their female ancestors. Probably, not very scientific, but a weird and wild idea.

[calebshaw]

Fun fact. The vibrating sand was done practically. And the voice is actually a physical technique used by the sisterhood. Using there voice to control people

[CaptainMyCaptain]

This film was so good. The ending was a little lackluster but I have no complaints. I can’t wait for part 2. This is the film version of Dune I’ve been waiting for my whole life.

[knightonart]

9:30 the sound design for the thumper is music to my ears. The clicking sounds as it lifts up and that delicious bassy _thump._ Mmmm, so satisfying.

[JD-yzkr]

The later Dune novels made it clear that the sandworms are the cause of why Arrakis is a desert planet.

[CZpersi]

Rumour has it that Herbert first wrote an essay about ecology of Dune (now attached to the first book) and only then proceeded to write the story.

Btw.: The sandworm using vibrations was first used in this movie. I am not even sure, if the book references it, but it is a great touch. It also explains, why sandworms hate vibrations - because they are fiercely territorial and think that there is another sandworm doing them.

[russjudge]

There's also great attention to detail in the fighting and battle tactics given how the personal shields pretty much eliminates the effectiveness of projectiles.

[quoniam]

I absolutely loves the ornithopters in the movie (contrary to Lynch's golden soap boxes). You even get the detail of modern military choppers like an Tiger or an Appache vs the look of an older one, like the Gazelle for example. The guys pushed the details that far on this.

[lolglolblol]

It's also worth mentioning that Dune's ornithopters do also have small jet thrusters to assist the flight and maneuvering

[bialynia]

Okay okay, there is no "force" in Dune. The effect of Bene Gesserit's voice is an extreme form of unconditional reflex and it has nothing to do with spice, just training. All Bene Gesserit do is just be super perceptive and then push the right buttons, psychologically and physiologically.

[codename]

The voice is a Bene Gessrit ability based on minutiae of observation. They learn to observe someone’s mannerism, personality and weaknesses then pitch their voice to compel that person to obey.

[charleslaine]

The ornithopters were so cool to watch in this movie. They looked absolutely real to me.

[jamesoloughlin]

Just realized the sand compactor is a mechanical biomimicry of how the sandworms move through the sand. Great video.

[Wdomino]

And this is why Dune is great. Im a huge Star Wars fan and even I dont understand every detail there, it doesnt matter too, likewise with Dune. I didnt need to understand how the Sandworm moves, it was shown realistic, and this video is just the cherry on top to confirm the level of detail in this movie.

Like I said to everyone asking me how was the movie Dune? Its not a movie, its an experience.

[mikestanmore]

I've practiced kung fu (primarily Wing Chun ) for many years. I have always liked the way the 'Weirding Way' uses body language to predict the next movement in an opponent. In Kung Fu we train the Chi Sau (Sticking Hands) in order to feel the movement of an opponent and react to it - it's effectively extending the moment of contact indefinitely so we can train to react to it, which brings the reaction time down from 0.6 seconds for visual cues to about 0.2 seconds. It's usually misinterpreted by people who practice other martial arts, but what can you do about that?

[magicalmagicmagician]

Arrackis is made even more important because of how addictive spice is and that it's impossible to wean a person off of spice once they're addicted.
And there's a lot of rich people addicted to it in the Imperium (like a lot), so if the spice trade ever got stopped, millions of people would literally die from withdrawal

[julien]

(French speaker here) Just wanna say you pronounce Villeneuve the right way ! Good job :-) so many people pronounce it wierdly.

[clintweatherwalks]

Although I thoroughly enjoyed the new Dune film, I'm surprised that Dr. Howell (being an astrophysicist) didn't bring up the one thing that bothered me while watching the movie. While the events on Arrakis take place over some length of time, it appeared that the moons were always in the same position in the sky, and, even worse, were always in the same position relative to each other. The position of the smaller moon, since it's in front of the larger moon and therefore on a tighter orbit, would visibly change its position relative to the larger moon over the course of minutes, let alone days.

While it may be conceivably possible for a moon to be in a geostationary orbit around a planet, I don't see how there could be a larger moon in a geostationary orbit with a smaller moon always in the same position relative to the larger moon from the perspective of the planet. Unless somehow the smaller moon is in a geostationary orbit (moonstationary orbit?) of the larger moon that is in a geostationary orbit around Arrakis, and the smaller moon is tidally locked to the larger moon which is tidally locked to Arrakis, but that seems like a unlikely arrangement.