New TV series 'Eureka' explores weird physics in top-secret town

On Tuesday, July 18, the new TV series "Eureka" will debut on the SciFi Channel.

This series explores the idea that a top-secret community in the Pacific Northwest is home to government scientific experts and strange anomalies in the physics of the town.

The premise of the story is that during the research and development of the atomic bomb during World War II, a highly classified scientific community was created.

The town of Eureka was developed as a center for leading minds of the time to conduct secret studies of various kinds.

Over the years, unusual anomalies in the environment around Eureka become apparent. Normal laws of physics are changed. Reality is altered. Or, is it that a different reality is discovered?

The series promises to be a learning experience for the general public about topics in the field of physics, as well as an entertaining interpretation of covert government projects.

Characters in this special town are often elite geniuses who also face the same everyday problems as the rest of us.

The sometimes quirky characters in Eureka promise to keep viewers smiling as the secrets of this unusual community are examined.

REAL LIFE PROJECTS

The idea of a secret community of scientists working on physics and atomic bombs is, of course, based in fact. Los Alamos, New Mexico, was home to such a program during World War II.

Elite scientists were brought together for the top-secret Manhattan Project in remote Los Alamos.

They lived there and worked around the clock in the race to create these new and terrifying weapons before the Nazis did.

The program was under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers and commanded by General Leslie R. Groves.

J. Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist, directed research at Los Alamos research. He also helped recruit engineers and scientists from many American universities for the project.

Some of the brightest minds of the time, and some might say a few eccentric minds as well, were secretly living at Los Alamos. This community became an unusual little town of sorts, involved in discovering the secrets of Nature to save the world from Nazi domination.

How these weapons ended up being used – dropped on the civilian populations, including women and children, of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan – was a controversial decision that still resonates today.

WEIRD PHYSICS RESEARCH NOW

Today, these kinds of studies have evolved into new and truly strange realms.

Researchers in sub-atomic and quantum physics are looking at faster-than-light travel, anti-gravity technology and even teleportation.

The nature of time and space are being examined in new ways. Is time travel possible? Can time and space be altered? Shortcuts in space, such as wormholes, star gates and cosmic portals are being talked about.

There is research going on about possible hidden dimensions around us. Do our limited senses allow us to perceive only part of our surroundings? Are there other things going on that we can´t easily see, hear, smell, touch or taste?

And what of the afterlife? Is it simply another dimension where we all go? And are those who have passed on actually closer to us than we might think?

Research into so-called "zero-point energy" is also going forward in interesting ways.

A phenomenon called "remote viewing" includes theories that at deeper levels of energy in the nature of our physical world, using only our minds, we can perceive things beyond the time and space of our immediate environment.

This is a kind of extra-sensory perception (ESP) that has a scientific basis in psychology and physics.

And, of course, the question about whether we on Earth are being visited by civilizations from other worlds continues to fascinate many people around the world.

SMART TELEVISION?

Whether the new SciFi Channel series "Eureka" will examine some of these developments in a way that is both fun and enlightening remains to be seen.

There certainly seems to be potential for a creative exploration of some of the most fascinating developments going on in the sciences now.

In these times when American school kids and the rest of us could use more awareness and knowledge about science, "Eureka" might just be an entertaining motivator for us to learn more.

Integrating discoveries in physics and understanding some of the mysteries of our natural world with the everyday lives of the town's residents could provide a very interesting and enjoyable experience for SciFi Channel viewers.

And besides, it might turn out that we are all living in Eureka.

AUTHOR NOTE TO READERS: Please visit my Joint Recon Study Group blog.