Professor Stephen Hawking has more letters after his name to forge his own alphabet. And, now he has his own television series heading our way from Discovery.

According to a release from the network, Hawking (Ph.D., CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA...See what I mean?) is the centerpiece of Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking -- will explore the major questions confronting modern science and physics. How did our universe begin? Could alien life be found on distant planets? Does our galaxy have a life expectancy? Hawking will lead an audience in a layman friendly exploration of those questions in the four part series.

It's Hawking taking up the mantle of the late astronomer Carl Sagan and his 1980 PBS series, Cosmos. The above video looks back affectionately on that show with a little music remix. In the original show, Sagan would explain the seemingly unexplainable every week.

Just like scores of real world colleges and universities across the country, Lost University is now back in session.

The fictional university meant to teach Lost fans on the "fringe" science and other elements of J.J. Abrams' show can begin classes anew as the series approaches its final season.

It's no joke and no mere marketing gimmick as the "university" brings in legitimate scientists, psychologists, language experts and other experts to discuss the themes and science of Lost.

The current course catalog includes: PHI 201: I'M RIGHT, YOU'RE WRONG: THE US VS. THEM MENTALITY -- "This course examines the complex relationship between Right vs. Wrong, Us vs. Them, and Good vs. Evil, and applies it to both Lost and the real world."

Adults are always urging kids to "stay in school," but they don't usually say which school. What if there was a university dedicated to all things Lost?

ABC has launched a web site for Lost University, an online school that starts on September 22. There are two semesters (or one final season), and courses include "Introductory Physics of Time Travel," "I'm Lost, Therefore I Am," and "I'm Right, You're Wrong: The Us vs. Them Mentality." There's also a Smokey Patrol, a campus security service run by students, and a Drive Shaft cover band contest.

The university will be at Comic-Con this weekend too, dropping clues about what all this means.

[via PopWatch]

So in the most recent episode of Lost, Christian Shephard told Locke that the only way they can save the island from the invaders is if they, um, move it. Yeah, that's right, move the island. Thanks Doctor Shephard, I'll get right on that.

But viewers thinking that this was some crazy thing that could only happen on television and in the movies are...well, probably right. But in this Popular Mechanics article, the author of the book Physics of the Impossible says that it actually could be done. Michio Kaku says that it sounds like they're going to use the electromagnetic properties of the island and the Casmir Effect to "open a transferable wormhole to different points in time and space."

(Hold on a second while I go take two Advil.)

Like many of you, I always assumed that Rosie O'Donnell had a masters in physics. I mean, why else would she be spouting off on national television that the WTC 7 was probably destroyed by a controlled detonation?

I actually make it a point to refer to Rosie's wisdom on every question I have in life. Right now I have a cold cheese sandwich sitting in my kitchen, but I'm not going to grill it until I find out from Rosie for certain that heat will melt cheese. She seems to have an understanding of these things my simple mind can't quite grasp.

At any rate, Popular Mechanics, just as it had done previously, explains to Rosie, and to everyone else, why the towers fell the way they did.

The web is starting to buzz about the similarities between these two clips (both having to do with doughnuts and science). One is from The Show With Ze Frank, a popular web show, and the other is from The Colbert Report. The Ze Frank clip was put up on Tuesday afternoon. The Colbert Report aired later that night.

Hmmmm...a rip-off, or just a weird coincidence?

[via Boing Boing]