1 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,399 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lammin. This is the Artifact, 3 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 2: focusing in on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. 5 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 2: In this episode, we're going to dive once more into 6 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 2: the fictional world of Frank Herbert's Doom to discuss the ornithopter, 7 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,479 Speaker 2: the predominant form of airborne travel in the far future 8 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:40,599 Speaker 2: interstellar Imperium. In Herbert's original novel, the author notes that 9 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:44,520 Speaker 2: thoptors are quote any aircraft capable of sustained wing beat 10 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,320 Speaker 2: flight in the manner of birds, and the exact details 11 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 2: of this technology are then largely left to the reader's imagination, 12 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 2: as well as the imaginations of numerous illustrators and storyboard 13 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 2: artists throughout the book's sixty year history. These interpretations vary greatly, 14 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 2: exploring the thopters biomechanical aspects to varying degrees. As such, 15 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,320 Speaker 2: we see depictions of ornithopters that range from elegant bird 16 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:15,560 Speaker 2: like machines to vehicles with big flapping wings to things 17 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,959 Speaker 2: that only slightly indulge the overall concept. For instance, the 18 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 2: ornithopters in the nineteen eighty four film adaptation of Dune 19 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,959 Speaker 2: are boxy, bulky, and feature small fixed wings that seem 20 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,720 Speaker 2: more decorative than functional. One gets the impression that these 21 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,560 Speaker 2: are meant to fly more due to the Dune universe's 22 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 2: fictional anti gravity Holtzman effect rather than anything aerodynamic. Now, 23 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 2: as a side note, I do want to point out 24 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 2: that the harconin thopters in nineteen eighty four's Dune look 25 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 2: a good bit cooler than the Atreades ones. You can 26 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 2: still find some old revel scale model kits of the 27 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 2: harconin theopter, and I think these would paint up nicely 28 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 2: if you can get your hands on one. Anyway, the 29 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 2: Sci Fi Channel minute series essentially delivered much the same 30 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 2: the Ornithopter as a mere futuristic aircraft, only without the 31 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 2: baroque design of nineteen eighty four's Doom. Eventually, however, the 32 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 2: wings would flap because the acclaim twenty twenty one and 33 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 2: twenty twenty four film adaptations of Doune envisionedthopters as a 34 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 2: kind of fusion of dragonfly and apache assault helicopter, a 35 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:28,160 Speaker 2: design that depends on multiple rapidly moving wing blades in 36 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 2: order to hover and soar above the sands of Aracus. Subjectively, 37 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 2: I think these hit just the right spot, at least 38 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:41,799 Speaker 2: feeling both aeronautically realistic and sufficiently majestic and intimidating. The 39 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 2: dragonfly comparison is also sound, as Herbert himself compared the 40 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,079 Speaker 2: flight of ornithopters to the flight of insects. In the novel, 41 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 2: we read that ornithopters come in varying forms, including drone 42 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 2: ornithopters and observation theopters, and the most recent film adaptations 43 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,480 Speaker 2: explored different models as well, from royal ornithopters and observation 44 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 2: ornithopters to troop carriers and air to ground assault craft. Now, 45 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,639 Speaker 2: while we don't have a ravel scale model of any 46 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:13,519 Speaker 2: of these, we at least have the Lego doom A 47 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 2: Treadees royal ornithopters set with flapping swooping wings. Of course, 48 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 2: I have yet to get my hands on one of these. 49 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 2: Here in the real world, we of course don't have 50 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 2: commonplace airplanes with flapping wings, though not for lack of trying. 51 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 2: As discussed in Andersen and Bowden's Introduction to Flight, humanity's 52 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 2: oldest dreams of flying were inherently biommetic. We looked to 53 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 2: flying animals, usually birds, and concocted various schemes by which 54 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 2: artificial wings would provide both propulsion and lift. These doom 55 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 2: designs varied from wing attachments for human arms to more 56 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 2: advanced but still equally flawed concepts such as Leonardo da 57 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 2: Vinci's glider esque ornithopter sketch with wings that flapped both 58 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 2: downward and backward to provide lift and propulsion, just one 59 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 2: of several spectacular Renaissance flying machines that da Vinci dreamed up. 60 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 2: According to Anderson and Boden, it wasn't until seventeen ninety 61 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 2: nine and the work of English inventor George Kayley that 62 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 2: serious human flight engineers separated the principles of lift and propulsion. Quote. 63 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,360 Speaker 2: He proposed and demonstrated that lift can be obtained from 64 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 2: a fixed straight wing inclined to the airstream, while propulsion 65 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 2: can be provided by some independent mechanisms such as paddles 66 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 2: or air strews. That's not to say ornithopter technology is 67 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 2: completely beyond this. Flat powered flight can and has been done, 68 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,600 Speaker 2: at least for small flying machines and or limited distance 69 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 2: at an experimental level, a nineteen thirty seven French design, 70 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 2: the Rio ten two t Allarion, never flew, but is 71 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 2: sometimes held up as a possible inspiration for Herbert's thopters, 72 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 2: as is the work in the nineteen forties by Adelbert 73 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 2: Schmidt which resulted in the first successful crude ornithopter flights. 74 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 2: The technology has remained the domain of experimentation and RC hobbyists, 75 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 2: and its brightest applications maybe in the future of uncrude drones. Naturally, 76 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 2: Dune is far future science fiction, and we can either 77 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 2: ignore the technical questions or anithopters might raise, or assume 78 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,960 Speaker 2: that humans in the far future, humans that are capable 79 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 2: of traveling between stars have mastered feats of biomimetic design 80 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,599 Speaker 2: and engineering that elude us today. But I do want 81 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 2: to highlight one of the weirder explanations for how Herbert's 82 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 2: dooptors might work, found in the nineteen eighty four Dune Encyclopedia. 83 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:44,599 Speaker 2: It's a book I grew up borrowing over and over 84 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,080 Speaker 2: again from the local library, and I was lucky enough 85 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,840 Speaker 2: to snag a used copy for myself several years ago now. 86 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 2: The book was originally advertised as a complete and authorized 87 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,719 Speaker 2: companion to the doone novels, of which there were only 88 00:05:56,839 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 2: four at the time, with Frank Herbert's Heretics of Day 89 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,760 Speaker 2: publishing later that same year. So while Herbert gave this 90 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,440 Speaker 2: book his quote delighted approval, it is actually the work 91 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 2: of Willis E. McNelly and several contributing authors. It provides 92 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 2: various explanations and histories that are not found in preceding novels, 93 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 2: are not reflected in subsequent novels, and is generally not 94 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 2: considered cannon. It is, however, tremendous fun and has entries 95 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,240 Speaker 2: on everything from spice cookie recipes to detailed histories of 96 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 2: various characters, creatures, and factions. The entry for ornithopters is 97 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 2: a doozy, however, attributing the vehicle's rapid flapping not to 98 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 2: a central mechanical innovation, but rather to a domesticated organism 99 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 2: known as a heart scallop, an alien land mollusk that 100 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 2: begins life, we are told as an airborne polyp, before 101 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 2: fixing itself to a tree or cliff face, where its 102 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 2: muscular contractions pump through air to filter out microbes for 103 00:06:56,040 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 2: food and so. According to the Dune Encyclopedia Human engineers 104 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:04,600 Speaker 2: eventually domesticated this species and put it to work at 105 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:07,800 Speaker 2: the heart of their flying machines, providing an organic power 106 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 2: source for artificial wings. So the next time you watch 107 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 2: the recent Dune movies with their terrifying and majestic sequences 108 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 2: of thopt or flight over the desert planet, please imagine 109 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,679 Speaker 2: a pulsating mollusk at the heart of each vehicle. Again, 110 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 2: it may not be cannon, but it's delightfully weird and 111 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 2: perhaps not out of step with the power of terrestrial mollusks, 112 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 2: which do both strong muscles, they create resilient materials and 113 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 2: generate impressive grips. I must have read this Dune Encyclopedia 114 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 2: entry when I was in junior high, but had forgotten 115 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 2: about it until my friend Brian brought it to my 116 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 2: attention again, and initially I did not believe him till 117 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 2: I grabbed my copy and turned to page four sixteen Kolwahad. 118 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 2: I was profoundly stirred. Tune in for additional editions of 119 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,960 Speaker 2: the artifact the Monster fact or Animalius du Pindium each 120 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 2: week as all ways. You can email us at contact 121 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 2: at stuff to Blow Your Mind dot. 122 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:16,040 Speaker 1: Com Stuff to Blow Your mind is production of iHeartRadio. 123 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 124 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.