Dr. Swain's capsule-cam will show us a quieter place, probably, with poorer production values. It reminds us that this poking around is something we're good at. We're charting the human genome, mapping the planets, measuring submicroscopic distances, sounding our own depths. We like to solve the mysteries we can, maybe because we're so aware of the ones we can't, the shadowy territories inside us that not even Dr. Swain can light up. When Robert Frost admitted being afraid of the dark it wasn't the abysmal emptiness of space that spooked him.
Science has no magic to make that truth any easier to swallow.
Tiny camera Commentator Jeff Steinbrink may be a man of steel in his daily life, but confesses the mere thought of financial planning saps his energy like kryptonite. Jeff Steinbrink says he's disappointed at the possibility that the universe is flat, rather than round or curved, as previous theories held. He wishes the shape of the universe were more exciting. He also recorded three essays for Maine Public Radio, two of which have aired so far.