News Physics

Separating science fact from fiction in Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ 

A cosmologist weighs in on the show’s implausible — and plausible — physics 

A woman is pictured in front of three overlapping circles, representing the three stars of an alien star system, in an image from the Netflix show "3 Body Problem."

In Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, inhabitants of a chaotic three-star system aim to take over Earth.

Netflix

By Emily Conover

The orbits of a trio of stars can be so chaotic that it’s impossible to precisely calculate the stars’ future trajectories.