CNN 2010-11-14

All right. About that mysterious trail of smoke or vapor¹ off the California coast. It's today's "Talker" because people are still talking about it two days later.Sure wish the Pentagon would talk more about it. We're not getting solid answers from there either. The whole thing is taking on sort of an Area 51, Bermuda Triangle, Loch Ness monster kind of vibe. Dr. Michio Kaku is hot on the trail, though. He's a theoretical physicist². My old job, of course. Professor, author and guy who makes very complex scientific stuff easy to understand. Good to see you, Dr. Kaku.

Glad to be on the show.

All right. So, OK. We've heard missile launch. We've heard rocket. We've heard optical illusion. We've heard airplane. What are you sticking with at this point?

Well, it's not Superman. I think that there are two basic reasons for believing that it's an airplane contrail. First of all, the smoking gun is radar³ sightings and if you analyze⁴ the radar images you find no object that is moving like a missile. All you see are just airplanes in the area. But second of all, if you go to a frame by frame analysis of the trail itself, you realize that it's really an airplane. First of all, the object is not accelerating. Booster rockets accelerate up to 15,000 miles per hour. This thing is traveling at a constant velocity⁵. And second of all, it's deviating⁶ in its trajectory⁷ slightly. Rockets can't do that.

So it's changing direction.

Rockets move in a straight line.

Right.

So rockets move in a straight line while airplanes, of course, can change maneuver⁸. Also if you're looking at the trajectory head on, edge on, something that looks like it's going vertically⁹ up could actually be going horizontally with a very small slope. And, so, it plays tricks on you.And then, contrails expand very rapidly, so the base of the contrail looks like it's very close to you artificially. Actually, that object could be moving toward you rather than away from you, and that would put it in line with other airplanes that were in the area.

Interesting because you bring up an interesting point. From the way we would see it versus¹⁰ the way a pilot would see it, it would be completely different, right?

That's right. In fact, pilots who were interviewed said they saw nothing strange in the area. How can that be? Because that trail is staring you in the face. However, looking at it from above, looking down, they would see an ordinary airplane flying horizontally, while we on the ground think that it's a missile flying vertically. So, all of the dots fit. If you assume that it's an airplane, rather than a missile.

OK. Now, we're getting a number of other -- obviously, there's a lot of professionals weighing in on this, OK? You are sticking to the airplane thought. Another expert that has been on a number of networks is saying it looks like possibly a test firing from a submarine.

Well, you have to realize that ICBM launches from Vanderberg usually go east to west. Now, there are polar orbits, but for the most part, we fire east to west with ballistic missiles.

OK.

The trajectory of this object is different. The trajectory here seems to be coming toward you. It seems to be going east, which is opposite the direction of polar launches and also launches to Kwajalein in the Pacific Ocean that we fire our missiles at.

So, Dr. Kaku, if it was an airplane, though, wouldn't there be some sort of record of the fact that it's airborne? It had to launch from somewhere. It had to show up on some sort of a screen.

Yes. If you look at the blogs, people have been looking at different flights that go over LA from west to east. Opposite the direction that it seems to be flying, because an optical illusion. And there is an airplane that's flying from Hawaii to Phoenix¹¹ traveling over Los Angeles in the correct direction. So, there are candidates, there are prime candidates for that missing airplane that is causing this trail. And remember, the passengers on that airplane don't even know that it's creating this contrail, and so, we have now, I think, the smoking gun.

OK. We're going to pin it on you, Dr. Kaku. We're going to see how this holds out. We're going to have to get some answers at some point. Dr. Micho Kaku, so great to see you. It's always fun watching your show, as well. Thanks for joining us.

Thank you.

All right. Time for you to weigh in. You don't have to be a theoretical physicist like Dr. Kaku to really have an opinion here. Tell me what you think at cnn.com/kyra. What's your theory?

All right. Let's travel cross country, shall we? First stop, Boston, Ohio. That's where a deer crashed and then trashed a neighborhood bar and grill¹². The chaotic¹³ scene was caught on tape and is quickly becoming quite the hit online. The nervous buck¹⁴ actually slipped and slid across the barroom door before making its way out the kitchen door left open by a fleeing worker, by the way. Lucky nobody was hurt.

Next stop, Plymouth Township, Michigan. Surveillance cameras rolling when a packet of red dye exploded as two robbers made their getaway. That pair held up a bank on Friday and are still on the run. Investigators¹⁵ say that even if they ditched their clothes, you can still recognize them.

Finally, Portland, Oregon, talk about life in a fish bowl. Cristin Norine is spending the entire month of November inside this glass encased store front. Her only contact with the outside world is through social networking. Cristin's stay is part of an art and social media experiment called the "Public Isolation¹⁶ Project."

1 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

2 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

3 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

4 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

5 velocity   

n.速度，速率

参考例句：

• Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。
• The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。

6 deviating   

v.偏离，越轨( deviate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I compromise by using a prepared text and deviating from it whenever I feel the need. 我搞折衷办法，准备一份讲稿，觉得需要的时候就自由发挥。 来自辞典例句
• Theories deviating practices are inane, while practices deviating theories are blindfold. 脱离实践的理论是空泛的，脱离理论指导的实践是盲目的。 来自互联网

7 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

8 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

9 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。

10 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

11 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

12 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

13 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

14 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

15 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。