Since the question is in my field, I just have to jump in and say that solutions to the autopilot problem are very well-known and robust at this point. Remember that robotic spacecraft the enter atmospheres - including Curiosity, Huygens, Dragon, and many others - do so under computer control.

Did current or past astronauts have any involvement on "Gravity?" I'm thinking about operational details, dialogue, motion on spacewalks - or any other details. There's been a lot of praise of "Gravity's" spacewalking scenes from astronauts, and I'm curious if any of them helped out during production.

NASA astronauts cross-train with Russian cosmonauts (in fact, labels on ISS are in both English and Russian) - but I don't know exactly how identical the Shenzou spacecraft would be to Soyuz!

Well, I'm an experimentalist. I say: let's try it and see!

I have read that it's more effective to approach contradicting facts in a roundabout way, through understanding, personal anecdotes.

The correct answer to the headline question is: "all of them."

How about this: the Alliance remembers that they were actually after River for more reasons than her knowledge of one classified project, and they decide that they should recover their multimillion-credit military investment after all. The story goes back to the driving elements of the series instead of the movie.

Klingons, Minbari, Ferengi...All of those aliens fall into the funny-forehead category. Humanoid plus extra ridges, warts, and earlobes.

Phil Plait was all over this: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astr…

5 and 8 may be valid points for a real Federation, but there would be a substantial impact to TV production costs. Why do you think all the aliens on Trek have funny foreheads instead of actually appearing alien?

...I once did the same thing and made the mistake of commenting, "being afraid of radiation from microwaves is just like being afraid of radiation from cell phones." My intended implication: it's silly. Sadly, this person was already afraid of both.

Okay, NO. This is actually the worst kind of design: the kind where the design aesthetic CONFLICTS with the information being presented.

I wasn't trying to make a statement about abuses; I was simply trying to expand on your comment about "also-rans."

For more reading on conlangs, this is a pretty fantastic and fun read:

...or about the papers with fifty coauthors. Then, as far as the media is concerned, it's just "scientists" who have done the work.

Aww, I was hoping it would actually be infrared. The blue sky is a dead giveaway.

Uplifting? I dunno...the statement "the only limit is yourself" cuts both ways!

It's probably okay near electronics and credit cards - just so long as you don't wave them around!

For a double whammy, how about both the main characters in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy?