Science vs. Fiction: 'After Earth'

What happens if the planet turns on us?

The sci-fi adventure film "After Earth," a kind of family affair starring Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith, is really two movies in one. The film's bookend segments are set aboard interstellar spacecraft with high-tech gadgetry, a thousand or so years into the future.

But the film's middle passages involve conjecture on biology, ecology and a particularly intriguing premise: What would happen if the Earth, as an organism, evolved to defend itself against the harmful human species? We take a look at the film's blend of biological and technological fiction to see if there's any basis in reality.

Predatory plants

Fiction: In several early scenes, Kitai is seen running through beautiful but deadly forest glades in which predatory plants appear to have limited movement and even locomotion.

Science: There are more than 400 known species of carnivorous plants -- or more accurately, insectovorous plants -- which consume their prey through a chemical process similar to digestion. All plants move, of course, but usually too slowly to be discerned without the help of time-lapse photography. But there are exceptions: Several underwater plant species move about visibly, in still water, and the famous Venus fly trap snaps shut in less than half a second when capturing its prey.
Columbia Pictures


Oxygen boost inhalers

Fiction: In the film, Kitai discovers that the Earth's atmosphere has adapted in at least one specific way to discourage human habitation -- there's not enough oxygen to survive. So he must use a futuristic inhaler which, his father explains, will coat his lungs and boost oxygen absorption.

Science: Modern asthma inhalers don't technically increase oxygen absorption into the bloodstream, but they do facilitate lung function by way of two main types of aerosolized medication: Bronchodilators relax muscle constriction, and anti-inflammatory agents suppress

Read more at Discovery News