The Science of Santa

Santa Claus must use advanced technologies to pull off his annual feat. Thankfully, NewScientist has the exclusive about the what and the how. "He relies on some impressive gadgets: miniature flying robots, advanced satellites, highly sensitive surveillance devices, memory-erasing milk, self-assembling toys, and a warp-drive-powered sleigh that's capable of bending and twisting space-time to such an extent that it slips Santa and his reindeer out of the observable universe. In 1949, Kurt Gödel published one of the first mathematical descriptions of how it could work. In his version, the universe has paths called closed time-like curves that might allow you to jump in a ship, fly for a while, and end up right back where you started in space and time."

Comments

Geeks...

[girlintraining]

Amazing. They believe in advanced quantum physics AND Santa. Most ordinary people would just say "he doesn't exist" around the age of 9 and move on. But not geeks!

Science? Really?

[bertoelcon]

Shouldn't this be more Idle territory or Entertainment maybe.

Clarke's Third Law

[DadLeopard]

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Arthur C. Clarke, I think that says it all!

Not quite that complicated...

[geoskd]

I know this isn't really in the spirit of the article, but the 300,000 "men in brown", who rack up 10,000,000 miles a day delivering around the world deserve at least a little of the credit.

I can remember a time, not long ago, when shipping something during the Christmas season meant hoping with your fingers crossed that it would arrive on time, but now thanks to the real technology behind the scenes, and the men and women involved, pretty much everything is delivered on time (assuming the retailers send it out on time).

So the next time you stop to think about santa, remember that there is an army of people, both in the limelight, and behind the scenes who bring Christmas to every house every year.

-=Geoskd