As an incoming university student of geology I was required to take a class in Historical Geology. I can recall my professor saying, "back in the Dark Ages . . ." intelligent people actually believed the Bible, including doctrines like a few-thousand-year-old earth, a world-covering flood, and a built-in fixity to the created kinds of plants and animals.

When speculating about life in the universe, scientists need to be more realistic than Hollywood. In Star Trek, no matter where the actors land, they can walk around and breathe the air. That may be easier on directors, but for a surface to be habitable, there are physical requirements.

The unobserved process of evolution and its bizarre history has been thoroughly entrenched in the minds of millions. For decades there were facets of this theory that one was never to question, but irritating scientific discoveries continue to unravel the Darwinian garment.

In this unique era of human history, manned space flight -- the dream of many a novelist -- has become routine. Star Trek and its spin-offs have taken our imaginations far beyond our giant leap to the moon. Is the sky the limit?