How much science in the movie Avatar?

Yesterday looked Avatar 3D. To be honest, I liked the film very much, in connection with this I publish a translation of an article telling how credibly scientifically the world is shown there.

Attention, in the article a lot of spoilers!

The action of the science fiction blockbuster "Avatar" takes place on the planet with mysterious extraterrestrial technologies. His director James Cameron not only shot other sci-fi epics, such as Aliens, The Abyss and the first two Terminators, but was president of the school science club, and has a brother who develops underwater robots.

So how much science is there in Avatar?
')

Pandora

The film takes place on the fictional Pandora, one of the many moons of Saturn’s fictional gas giant Polifem, located in the real Alpha Centauri system, which is about 4.4 light-years from Earth and is the star system closest to the Sun.

Although astronomers have not yet discovered satellites outside our solar system, they expect this soon. And the Alpha Centauri system may be a good candidate. The larger of the two real, sun-like stars that make up the Alpha Centauri system is Pandora’s fictional sun. In fact, scientists may soon be able to detect satellites suitable for life using the James Webb telescope, as well as examine their atmosphere in search of key gases for life, such as oxygen and water vapor.

The rainforests cover most of Pandora’s continent, which suggests that the planets should be close enough to their sun to receive enough light. A few years ago this might have seemed implausible, but most extraterrestrial planets discovered by scientists are still gas giants extremely close to their stars.

However, life on the moon of a gas giant can present a number of problems. The satellites of Jupiter exist within the framework of an intense radiation belt of electrons and ions trapped in the magnetic field of the planet, and the gravitational attraction of Saturn, which leads to strong tidal effects, which may have once been torn apart by an ancient satellite, which led to the formation of rings, and today cause winds and volcanic eruptions on Titan.

Humanity is attracted to Pandora by the fact that it contains natural ores, called unobtanium, the old name often used in science fiction to denote materials with physically impossible qualities. (Technically, since it is a mineral substance, it might be better to call it “unobtainite”) Unobtanium is the best superconductor known, and apparently works at room temperature. Just as real superconductors can levitate in the presence of a magnetic field, the mountains on Pandora seem to consist of unobtanium and can float in the powerful magnetic field of an anomaly located at a certain point on the planet. The film shows how these magnetic fields can interfere with the operation of devices, just as it would in real life - although, apparently, this did not affect the wireless communication between the operators and their avatars.

High tech

The devices that give their name to the film are avatars - artificial structures controlled by the power of thought through a wireless protocol. Organisms are similar in appearance to the blue-skinned humanoid Na'vi, although they are hybrids, including the DNA of their operators.

Creating an organism that contains human and alien DNA together can be contrived. Even if aliens have DNA, people probably have more in common with corn or something on Earth than with life on Pandora. However, in real life, scientists are making great strides when it comes to computer interfaces to control robotic hands or a synthesized voice. Even without a direct interface with the brain, systems such as TelePresence now allow surgeons to perform operations remotely.

People also control AMP costumes, robots, which are essentially exoskeletons, moving their drivers and giving them incredible strength and the ability to manipulate giant cannons and fight dinosaur-sized animals. The US Army has been developing exoskeletons for many years to increase the strength of soldiers. It uses an internal combustion engine and mechanical hydraulics, which behaves like artificial muscles.

Aliens

The living forms that inhabit Pandora are often huge: giant dragons are flying creatures, tall as a skyscraper trees, and the blue-skinned Na'vi are about 3 meters tall. Gravity on Pandora is lower than on Earth, which probably helps to explain these dimensions. All living things have less weight, pressing them to the ground.

Most living forms on Pardor are hexapodal - that is, six-pointed, three pairs, which are arms, legs and wings. One would expect six legs or more on higher gravity worlds to help them maintain their weight, but insects make up more than half of all known sentient beings on Earth, and insects are the most common six-pointed creatures in the world.

Na'vi are four-legged, or four-limbed, just like humans. However, the film also shows the existence of other quadrupeds - these are Banshees or Icranes, which have four limbs. This may provide food for the intriguing assumption that Na'vi is more closely related to these dragons genetically than any of the terrestrial inhabitants shown in the film, although Na'vi and Banshees can actually come to four extremities as a result of evolution by losing two limbs, as happened with snakes on Earth who got rid of their legs.

Apparently, all living organisms on Pandora are bioluminescent, that is, they can glow. Bioluminescence is also present on Earth, for example, fireflies and algae. Many animals, apparently, have two pairs of eyes - on Earth, insects have not only a pair of complex eyes, but often a large number of simple eyes.

The nostrils of animals from Pandora are often located on their bodies, not on their face, and there are often more than two of them. This suggests that instead of connecting the digestive and respiratory tracts together, like in humans and other mammals — which can lead to choking hazards — the animals on Pandora could separate these systems, like terrestrial insects that breathe through holes called spiracles.

The biggest stretch when it comes to the biology of Pandora can be themselves Na'vi. Despite their blue skin and tails, they look like people, with four limbs, nostrils on their face, and a vertical gait that cannot be too successful for life mainly on trees. Females have breasts, although, as Cameron himself admits, they are not placental mammals, and we were extremely fortunate that we found them when they were at a comparable level of intelligence - they could easily turn out to be animals that are hardly capable of language or creatures advanced technology.

Nevertheless, one could forgive a little poetics in the film, which in other respects, apparently, tried to correspond to science as much as possible.