Top 10 True Science in 3 Body Problem Explained
#10: The Three-body Problem
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More than just the title of the show, the three-body problem is also a centuries-old issue in physics. In simple terms, it’s the realization that any space (or system) with three things in it - three bodies - is inescapably difficult (even impossible) to reliably predict. Whereas with two bodies - say, a star and a planet - it’s simple to foresee how each will affect the other through gravity, when you add a third… it gets messy. Nevertheless, in the show, the three-body problem is what Jin (and then Jack) must try to solve, if they hope to save the mysterious world inside the game that’s under the gaze of three suns.
#9: The Fermi Paradox
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It’s a classic problem in science that runs right through the very heart of “3 Body”. The Fermi Paradox is the seemingly simple contradiction between the statistical likelihood that aliens should exist… and the real world reality that we still haven’t found any. It’s said that the paradox was first voiced by the famed twentieth century physicist, Enrico Fermi, during a lunchtime conversation with colleagues - at the end of which Fermi is said to have exclaimed, “so, where is everybody?”, or words to that effect. Where are all the aliens? And “3 Body Problem” is dead set on delivering an answer.
#8: The Wow! Signal
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In an early meeting between Wade and Clarence, the latter mentions to the former a bizarre moment in modern scientific history. And the Wow! signal actually is a real world phenomenon, and an enduring mystery. As Clarence explains in the show, it really was a hugely unusual radio signal, detected by the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University, in August 1977. The strength and apparent uniformity of the signal lead many to believe that it may have been some kind of extraterrestrial call out. In reality, the Wow! signal reportedly wasn’t picked up anywhere else besides Ohio… although, in the show, Clarence says that it was also heard in China.
#7: Solar Amplification
Whereas the Wow! signal very much did happen, the messages sent from Earth into space (in the show) are a little more… debatable. Ye Wenjie’s use of the sun to amplify her call to alien life is a key moment in Liu Cixin’s original book series, as well… but for years there’d been doubt amongst readers whether this particular celestial trick was really possible. Then, in 2017, a theory put forward by the astrophysicist, Michael Hippke, suggested that perhaps we could make use of our sun to magnify outgoing signals - by channeling its superior gravity, via what’s known as gravitational lensing. It was even suggested that the method would make it possible to communicate with Alpha Centauri - the next-closest star system to us, and the real world model for the home of the San-Ti, in the show.
#6: Dehydration
On the overall scale of science fact to fiction, dehydration perhaps feels as though it should be firmly made up. During her first meeting with the Follower, Jin sees the unsettling process up close… and surely it isn’t something that ever actually happens? But, we do see dehydration in the natural world. Tardigrades are well known for seemingly being able to survive anywhere. Bottom of the sea, inside an exploding volcano, in the cold, dead vacuum of space… they live. And one way they achieve this is via dehydration; entering into an extreme state where they lessen the water in their bodies to just one or two percent of what it usually is. Of course, humans can’t dehydrate just yet… but it isn’t quite beyond the pale that an alien force would.
#5: Nanofiber Weapons
The brutal destruction of Judgment Day along the Panama Canal is easily one of the most dramatic moments in the series. Auggie Salazar’s world-changing, ultra-thin, next-level materials get their first proper showcase outside of the lab… and it’s a bloodbath. What’s disturbing, though, is that it’s a scene that arguably is possible. Nanofibers, in general, do exist and are being experimented with. Their real-world applications are usually a lot more positive, with widespread uses in energy, construction and medicine. However, essentially invisible, razor weapons are also theoretically achievable. The good news is that something to the scale of slicing up a boat, well, we’re not there yet. But, with this scene in mind, it’s no wonder that nanotech is already heavily regulated.
#4: The Staircase Project
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In the second half of the series, it’s all hands on deck for Jin’s kinda bonkers, space-brain brainchild. It’s a bid to line the route of a space probe with hundreds of nuclear weapons; explode them all at just the right time; and so propel the probe to one percent lightspeed. And if that sounds like it makes sense, it’s because, actually, it does. So-called nuclear pulse propulsion is another real world approach and theory that the books (and show) explore. In the Cold War, the US experimented with it as part of the then-top-secret Project Orion. Using it as a kind of extended catapult to launch one small object multiple lightyears through space is stretching it to the extreme, though. So perhaps the eventual issues with Staircase aren’t that surprising.
#3: Human Hibernation
Hibernation technology is key throughout the “Three-body” books, while in the series it becomes increasingly important in the later episodes. First off there’s the brain that the Staircase probe is carrying, frozen (as it is) for its voyage into the void. And then there’s Wade’s early hints toward pausing his own life, at some stage in the future. At the moment, hibernation, suspended animation, torpor… whatever you want to call it, humans can’t do it. However, it has long, long been said (even promised) that it will be possible in the future. And, in fact, that it has to be possible in the future, if we ever want to travel beyond our solar system. At present, “3 Body” is dealing very much in the realms of theoretical science… but maybe not for long.
#2: Sophons
In the show (and the books) the sophons are what really shake things up for the humans. They’re tiny, proton-sized supercomputers, that impact Earth in various ways, and communicate with the San-Ti through quantum entanglement. They’re built by scaling up and down through extra dimensions, folding and unfolding matter, until an incredible amount of information and power gets contained within an incredibly small space from our point of view. It’s why you can’t see the sophons, but they can still make the universe blink or put an eye in the sky. In reality, humans can’t build sophons… although in theory they make sense. The more general, AI reconstruction of the sophons (or, in fact, of any object) into human form - as we see in the show - certainly is possible, though.
#1: The Dark Forest
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While it’s never exactly front and center in the show, the Dark Forest theory still permeates every aspect of the story. Proposed by Liu Cixin in the trilogy’s second book of the same name, the Dark Forest is an imagining of the universe in which all civilizations (if they have any hope to survive) are hunters in hiding. It’s said that life in the cosmos should tread carefully through space, as though trying not to rustle the leaves of a forest. It’s also implied that to survive in that forest (aka the universe) it’s either remain entirely unnoticed, or it’s kill or be killed. And so, with this in mind, the actions of Ye Wenjie at Red Coast base are made all the more momentous.
What’s your verdict on “3 Body Problem”? And which bit of the show’s science are you most impressed by? Let us know in the comments!
