Omni Magazine
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198Fs WORST SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS JAPAN'S NEW ROBOT CULTURE, SCIENCE VS. MALE STERILITY, BROWN FAT DIET, DECODING >*? NOSTRADAMUS, 01 Is onnrui EDITOR & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONE PRESIDENT: KATHY KEETON EDITO°IA._ D HFICTOFr 5FN 80VA EXECU1 IVE ED "OR- D CK TERESI ART DIRECTOR: F-l-'V.K DEVINO EUROPEAN EDITOR: DR. BERNARD DIXON ASSOCIATE P...BL SI IF = UARIAWE HCWATSON DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING: BEVERLEY WARDALE CONTENTS PAGE FIRST WORD Opinion Hans A, Bethe 6 OMNIBUS Contributors 8 EARTH Environment Eric Schwartz 16 LIFE Biomedicine Bernard Dixon 18 SPACE Comment David Monagan 20 MIND Behavior Stacy N. Gould and Michael G. Patterson 24 FILM The Arts Robert Rivlin 26 EXPLORATIONS Travel Delta Willis 30 CONTINUUM Brown- Fat Diet, etc. 33 ROBOTS OF JAPAN Article R. Bruce McColm 42 ELEPHANT SONG Fiction Barry B. Longyear 46 THE HYDROGEN MAN Article Kenneth Jon Rose 50 TRIGGERING Fiction John Shirley 54 WHERE FLESH AND STEEL MESH Pictorial Douglas Colligan 58 MARTIN GARDNER Interview Scot Morris 66 SCIENCE VS. MALE STERILITY Article Carta Fine 70 WORST SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS Pictorial 74 ANTIMATTER Decoding Nostradamus, etc, 89 STARS Astronomy Patrick Moore 122 UNBORN KITTENS Phenomena Howare Sochurek 124 GAMES Ruled i'.-easure Scot Morris 126 Humor Gurney Williams III 128 Surrealism predominates Or/M. 1932 (ISSN Q-£9-8Ml). U.S. Volume4. N mbot 4. Copyright © 1981 by Qmn in German artist Fred-Jurgen r nai L:d . ?L9 Tn a Avenue. New Vo Rogner's coverlhis month. One of nark of Omni Pubiieaki-^liyiT-iai' Ess Europe's most prolific painters, Ctrculat on Company 21 - ": Henderson . <y.;.., - -,1ns UK by COMAS' e' 1 . VI 'J. i.'fi .,1 Rogner has illustrated more than 701 1 :n.,l r;:, ., ,. 100 covers for vauo^s publications. Bf50n P ' U AF0-S24 onewsar His flamboyant work was GQpie6$2.S0lnU.5 UFO, and Canada. Address >Omr Wfajjaafriifc RC featured in a recent television show, tilmed in Bavaria. §§1 ill'! i Ml..' 4 OMNI repeated-errors by FIRST JUORD U.S. Department of Em • I he Ageol Oil is nearing its end, The . Energy Depart- nstitute for Nuclear Power ; ment projects that a supervise the training progra barrel of crude will cost $100 by 19903 ! the disposal of : -reason to doubt. a accomplished i.. mere isagrave peril that •oponents may have brougrv Jifillmg prophecy: By d by oil companies or by Nations experts. The problem ol solvable, but not-bv any sinale Rathe-: ;t-,viii be solved by a" ion of partial solutions working " MRIBUTa DRJlflJIISU! have a special status in unpraised, Robots Omni announces its Laurels and thatwhen it's burned, the exhaust Japan's work-oriented culture. (and Hardys) awards, starting on page 74. product is water." His exclusive profile of Because of their increasing In "Where Flesh and Steel Mesh" (page "The Hydrogen Man" begins on page 50. intelligence, with coupled voice and tactile 58), Marshall Arisman offers a disturbing After 25 years of writing his popular recognition, these humanlike automatons vision of technology's influence on our games column in Scientific American, have come to be embraced with the lives. His same paintings, characterized by their Martin Gardner is retiring — to work harder affection given household pets— even aura of surrealism and violent themes, on other projects. In a rare, exclusive children. "Their acceptance in society is have been featured on the covers of Time interview Omni senior editor Scot Morris universal," reports/?, Bruce McColm , who magazine, in Penthouse, the New York talks to Gardner about Alice in Wonder- traveled via Air Japan Lines to Tokyo, robot Times, and numerous other publications. land, perpetual-motion machines, Uri center of the world, for a firsthand look at Arisman, whose cheerful countenance Geller, ESP, hoaxes (including Gardner's the impact of these new members of the belies his gloomy outlook—on modern life, own), Fermat's last theorem, the fourth labor force. While staying at the Tokyo explains that aggression "directed dimension, calculators, computers, and Hilton, next to the shogun's temple, against ourselves, our fellowman, and the nearly a googol other topics. Turn to page McColm quickly perceived that these environment"— is his major source of 66 for the fun and amusement when our mechanical servants were no longer inspiration. Would he still create had he games editor talks to their games editor. restricted to industry. The author details, been born into a world free of war, hunger, Barry B. Longyear's first attempt at beginning on page 42, their diverse and social unrest? "No," says the artist. science-fiction writing earned him a occupations, from robotic kendo players "I'd probably be playing the saxophone," nomination for the John W Campbell that thrust and parry bamboo staves, like Roger Billings converted his car engine Award in 1976. "The Tryouts" became the Samurai of old, to a new breed of metallic to run on hydrogen when he was sixteen basis for Longyear's many short stories men whose sole function is to produce years old. Since then he has become a and two novels that chronicle the more of their own kind. leader in the crusade to transform the adventures of a spacefaring circus There are Nobel prizes for the giants of United States into a hydrogen- powered shipwrecked on the planet Momus. science but few awards for those society. unsung Billings has already begun to Longyear fans will not want to miss Omni's heroes of the lower echelons — men, adapt the homes and vehicles in one small excerpt from his upcoming book, women, and even machines that have Missouri town to run on this abundant Elephant Song (page 46), which is about made lesser contributions to the noble, source of fuel. He hopes that his model the circus's. adventures before it is pursuit of progress. Consider, for example, community will set a national trend, freeing marooned on Momus— or, in Longyear's a group of dedicated battled doctors who us from OPEC domination. own words, "it's a 'prequel.' to save the life of their club's country "Billings isn't just spouting hot air," says Finally, John Shirley makes his debut in gravely ill golf course. Or take the first Kenneth Jon Rose, who became inter- these pages with his short story "Trigger- conscientious. objector of the silicon ested in the scientist's pioneering work ing" (page 54). Shirley has written a new variety— computer a that attempted while waiting on gas-station lines during novel, Cellars, due out this spring. He also suicide as a protest against nuclear his undergraduate years. "What turned performs as the lead singer for the New energy. In recognition of these and other me on to hydrogen," Rose recalls, "is York rock band Obsession, whose lyrics fine achievements that have hitherto gone :he fact hyi is obtained from water touch on fantasy themes. DO 3 OMNI Dnnrui Jzlltt CDruin/iuruicATiDnjs Happy Anniversary Mystery Solved I have read Omni's October 1981 issue I wish to identify the "mystery ship" from to still cover cover and am as described in Antimatter [October 1981], It I impressed as was when I read the very is a floating cultural arts center christened first issue three years ago. Omni's articles Point Counterpoint II, and Pittsburgh's capture the powerful feelings people have American Wind Symphony Orchestra uses for science and the future. it for concert performances at various Bruce Kauffman shoreside locations every warm-weather Gillette, Wyo. season. The photograph of the ship on Lake Ontario caught it between Omni has now earned the respect of engagements. general readers and the scientific commu- The forward section of this extremely nity. Your unique blend of fact and fiction is interesting ship houses the crew The irresistible to one and all. middle serves as the stage, complete with Jerry Yule a roof that raises and lowers for concerts. Richardson, Tex. And the aft section holds a children's minitheater. The advent of Omni has probably done Hundreds of people along the banks of more to promote science than any other the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the media event. Your ability to explain the shores of the Great Lakes are familiar with latest advances in modern science to the this ship. nonscientist is very impressive. MarkT Epling Thomas Q Gillespie Columbus, Ohio Department of Geological Science Rutgers University We'd/ike to thank Mr. Epling for his ADVERTISING New Brunswick, M.J. information. The 20 photographs he sent us were quite convincing. We hope he can racter Reaction persuade other readers who have ideas of Chills ran up and down my spine as I read theirown. — Ed. "Soft Ions" [October 1981], It's frustrating to think that a its machine can get first May I point out that the "mystery ship" piece of fiction published while I sit here mentioned in Antimatter is quite definitely staring at a wall of rejection slips. Where a paddle steamer. I for do go my silicon-chip implant? Anthony J. Remain MarletteWest Edinburgh, Scotland DlTORIAL OFFICES Oakland, Calif. One morning last summer as I was driving racter is the first computer I've ever come along highway M-43, about two miles east rei 9Do;.-4 (=1 JSS4-9831 ! across with a sense of humor. "Soft Ions" of Bangor, Michigan, I saw ahead of me, West kensin . above the treetops, the "mystery ship" . RoyMilisa described in Omni's October 1981 issue. Oireaa-D/Fut .iavi oi'.^a St. Petersburg, Fla. There were portholes and what looked like Ba , battlements al both ends. It "to£fieBjSa was huge and Let people write stories and let computers.