I recently asked how Starfleet sensors detect life signs and previously someone asked how Starfleet sensors receive information faster than light . In the answers to my question (in the first link), there are references to points like watching for respiration and echoes or sounds. In the second link, there are comments about how subspace is used. But this still leaves something open: How do the sensors actually work? Today we can "scan" things by radar or sonar or even lidar. But all of these involve sending out a beam (or a sound) and studying what comes back. In short, we have to work with reflected information. But in The Enterprise Incident Checkov is able to find Spock on a Romulan vessel, where they would certainly be blocking any incoming electromagnetic beam that would be used for active scanning. Also, the Commander's quarters (or any quarters) are not likely to be directly up against the hull, where vibrations could be easily detected. And when they're sca...

In the first book, it's mentioned several times that Harry's hair grows quickly. I don't remember he exact quote, but I remember something like 'he must have gotten more haircuts than all the other boys in his class combined,' and Uncle Vernon mentioning that he needs a haircut every couple weeks. Where does he get it cut at Hogwarts? For that matter, where do any of the student at Hogwarts get their haircuts? Here's the quote from The Deathly Hallows that shows that Harry's hair grows long when it's not cut: His face was huge, shiny, and pink, every feature distorted by Hermione's jinx. His black hair reached his shoulders and there was a dark shadow around his jaw. - Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows , chapter 23: Malfoy Manor Answer TL;DR: Harry's hair doesn't grow extraordinarily fast; it only regrows magically fast in response to the unwanted haircuts he receives. So there is no need for special barber arrangements at Hogwarts; H...

I know Aragorn is descended from Elros the half-Elf, and from what I've been able to find, there are somewhere between 64 and 99 generations separating Elros from Aragorn. I can't do the math, I don't know how many generations actually separate them, and I don't know if Aragorn had any other Elves in his family tree. So how much Elven blood flows through Aragorn's veins? What percentage of his total DNA comes from Elves? Answer It rounds up to none, but getting there is fun. A note before I get started: I'm going to use the word "blood" a lot, and very imprecisely. I don't literally mean blood, or genetic markers, or anything like that. I just mean ancestry, the way I would call myself 1/4 Irish, because my grandmother was ethnically Irish. "Blood" is just a slightly simpler way to express that idea. Aragorn's parentage diverges from the Elves with Elros, brother of Elrond, who made the choice of the Edain at the end of the First A...

I recall it being a series of books, each being approximately 200 pages or so. The main character I recall had 'bionic' powers - or, his skeleton was made out of some indestructible type of metal or something... If I'm recalling it correctly he had a sidekick named 'wolf' perhaps? Sorry, that's about all I can remember. Would LOVE to find this series again! Edit: After googling 'science fiction metal skeleton' I turn up the 'Last Legionary' series by Douglas Hill. The name of the series rings a bell, the name of the main character rings a bell (Keill Randor), BUT... His sidekick is described as a telepathic 'bat' named Glr. I don't remember this... I could swear that the sidekick was some type of hairy creature named 'wolf' or 'bear' or 'baer'.... ?

In Return of the Jedi, Luke asks Leia if she has any memories of her real mother. Luke : Leia, do you remember your mother, your real mother? Leia : Just a little bit. She died when I was very young. Luke : What do you remember? Leia : Just images really, feelings. Luke : Tell me. Leia : She was, very beautiful, kind, but sad. Why are you asking me this? Luke : I have no memory of my mother. I never knew her. How is this possible? In Episode III, Padme dies soon after giving birth to Luke and Leia. Would this be considered a plot-hole? Answer I need to root around for a retcon explanation, but as-of-ROTJ explanation is this: In the novelization of Return of the Jedi, written by James Kahn, Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke that Anakin didn't know his lover was pregnant when he became Darth Vader, and Obi-Wan hid her away to protect her. After she gave birth, Obi-Wan took Luke to Tatooine and she took Leia to Alderaan. ( source ) A further confirmation of the alternate backstory is in SW ...

I know this one is going to be tough to identify, but it's something I saw as a kid and I've always wondered what the movie was like. I took it seriously as a kid, but suspect I'd laugh my head off at it now. I saw it in the late 1960s or early 1970s on a local monster movie show. From what I've seen since, I'm sure this was Japanese suitmation. There were two monsters in this movie (or at least two) and one was bad and one was good. The bad one was like a pterodactyl and could fly. It also fired a laser beam from its mouth. I remember a scene where, before the bad monster revealed itself, a twin-rotor helicopter (as in one rotor at each end) was carrying a number of people who were viewing an area for some reason and it was shot with a laser beam that sliced it in half, and people started faling out of each end of the helicopter. The other monster was some kind of reptile, on two or four legs. I remember it rearing up, so it was able to at least stand on two legs t...

As one of the tests that the trio needed to pass to get to the room where Philosopher's Stone was kept, they needed to get across the room full of giant wizard chess. To do that, they needed to play the game, which the book describes as seriously dangerous for them - the chess figures literally crush and destroy one another, and wreck things around. What makes me confused is, how did Quirrell get past this test ? It seems unlikely that HE played wizard chess - first, given what's shown about the game, any prior recent game would have left mounds of debris and broken figures all over the place; and second, there were 3 missing figures and only one Quirrell. If he used some other method to avoid playing the game, what was it, and why couldn't the trio use the same method instead of risking Ron's life ? Answer In the book, there aren't three missing figures; three pieces leave after Ron says they'll replace them. Also, the pieces aren't destroyed, but "...