Heads or tails?: Predicting the Unpredictable

DateOctober 22 1987

Can DescriptionsMaster Specials X4705 Heads or Tails Rec. 10/22/87 Air. 10/24/87

AbstractSegment #1: Title: “Heads or tails?: Predicting the Unpredictable”; Dr. Michael Guillen on his love of science and magic tricks; introduces chaos theory; Guillen in the casino, on luck, roulette, and the law of physics; nature and chaos theory at the Okefenokee swamp; Bernie Patton, Ecologist, talks about the swamp; peat islands appear and disappear; Mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot (1924-2010) explains chaos in nature and its geometry; clip from the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982); Mathematician Harold Hastings (1947-2022) talks about mapping the geometry system of the swamp; cut to black; Segment #2: predicting sudden cardiac arrest through chaos theory; Dr. Jeremy Ruskin on the subject; cigarette smoke as chaos; Dr. Richard Cohen of MIT on the subject and giving a computer a heart attack; period doubling pattern; cut to black; Segment #3: clip from the film Stormy Weather (1943); weather predictability; The Butterfly Effect; the cause and tracking of hurricanes; Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi and the Hurricane Hunters; Meteorologist Bob Sheets on the subject of Hurricane Emily; cut to black; Segment #4: outro and credits.

OtherCredits; Producer: Bob Geballe; Director: Bob Comiskey.