Hawking: Space exploration urgent for human survival

Space exploration and colonization has become urgent for humankind's survival as it will be hard for the world's inhabitants to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said over the weekend. In an email interview with "The Canadian Press" before the premiere of the new UK-Canadian series "Brave New World With Stephen Hawking," Hawking said the world is entering an "increasingly dangerous period of our history." "Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space," he said in the interview with "The Canadian Press." He said this is why he favors manned or "personed" space flight and encourages further study into how to make space colonization possible. The astrophysicist said the population and its use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with its technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. "We are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history... (Our) genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million," he said. TV series Hawking's five-part TV series touches on that theme, while focusing on scientific breakthroughs that promise to transform the 21st century. The report said "Brave New World With Stephen Hawking" debuts Saturday on Discovery World HD. In the series, Hawking introduces each episode while a team of experts travel the globe to delve deeper into various innovations. The experts include naturalist Sir David Attenborough, author and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, biologist and broadcaster Aarathi Prasad, and Canadian astronaut and neurologist Roberta Bondar. More Canadian content comes by way of a segment set at the SNOLAB in Sudbury, Ont., an underground science lab specializing in neutrino and dark matter physics. Features in the new series include a computer in Switzerland that is powered by the brain, a driverless car that is smart enough to navigate the crooked streets of San Francisco and a baby-like robot in Italy that learns like a child. Later episodes investigate the way brain disorders could be treated using laser light and genetically modified brain cells, how mobile phones can give experts access to our every habit and action, and lasers that print objects in 3D. "I have so much I want to do," Hawking says of his boundless curiosity about the world. "There are so many questions still to answer." Perimeter Institute Hawking also said he is excited by work at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, which he visited in June 2010 and was named its first distinguished research chair. Also, Hawking is the director of research at the Center for Theoretical Cosmology at Cambridge University. "Perimeter is a grand experiment in theoretical physics and the institute's twin focus, on quantum theory and gravity, is very close to my heart and central to explaining the origin of the universe," he said. In September, the Perimeter Institute expanded with a new wing called the Stephen Hawking Center but Hawking was unable to attend in person and sent his regards by video. — LBG, GMA News