Daniel B. Oerther, Missouri University of Science and Technology and William Schonberg, Missouri University of Science and Technology Just 48 short years ago, movie director George Lucas used the phrase “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” as the opening to the first “Star Wars” movie, later labeled “Episode IV: A New Hope.” But at least four important aspects of the “Star Wars” saga are much closer – both in time and space – than Lucas was letting on. One, the ability to add blue food coloring to milk, was possible even at the time the first film came out. But in 2024, “Star Wars”-themed blue milk became periodically available in grocery stores. And we, an environmental health engineer and a civil engineer, know there are at least three more elements of these ancient, distant Lucas stories that might seem like science fiction but are, in fact, science reality.

Moisture farming

In that first movie, “Episode IV,” Luke Skywalker’s Uncle Owen was a farmer on the planet of Tatooine. He farmed water from air in the middle of a desert. It might sound impossible, but it’s exactly what experts discussed at the second International Atmospheric Water Harvesting Summit hosted by Arizona State University in March 2025. Each day, a human needs to consume about the equivalent of 0.8 gallons of water (3 liters). With more than 8 billion people living on the planet, that means engineers need to produce nearly 2.6 trillion gallons (10 trillion liters) of clean drinking water every year. Taken globally, rainfall would be enough, but it’s distributed very unevenly – including landing in the oceans, where it immediately becomes too salty to drink safely. Deserts, which cover about one-fifth of the Earth’s land area, are home to about 1 billion people. Researchers at places such as Berkeley have developed solar-powered systems that can produce clean drinking water from thin air. In general, they use a material that traps water molecules from the air within its structure and then use sunlight to condense that water out of the material and into drinkable liquid. But there is still a ways to go before they are ready for commercial distribution and available to help large numbers of people.

Space debris

When the second Death Star was destroyed in “Return of the Jedi,” it made a huge mess, as you would expect when blowing to smithereens an object at least 87 miles across (140 kilometers). But the movie’s mythology helpfully explains a hyperspace wormhole briefly opened, scattering much of the falling debris across the galaxy. As best as anyone can tell, a hyperspace wormhole has never appeared near Earth. And even if such a thing existed or happened, humans might not have the technology to chuck all our trash in there anyway. So we’re left with a whole lot of stuff all around us, including in space. According to the website Orbiting Now, in late April 2025 there were just over 12,000 active satellites orbiting the planet. All in all, the United States and other space-faring nations are trying to keep track of nearly 50,000 objects orbiting Earth. And there are millions of fragments of space debris too small to be observed or tracked. Just as on Earth’s roads, space vehicles crash into each other if traffic gets too congested. But unlike the debris that falls to the road after an Earth crash, all the bits and pieces that break off in a space crash fly away at speeds of several thousand miles per hour (10,000 to 30,000 kph) and can then hit other satellites or spacecraft that cross their paths. This accumulation of space debris is creating an increasing problem. With more satellites and spacecraft heading to orbit, and more stuff up there moving around that might hit them, space travel is becoming more like flying the Millennium Falcon through an asteroid field every day. Engineers at NASA, the European Space Agency and other space programs are exploring a variety of technologies – including a net, a harpoon and a laser – to remove the more dangerous pieces of space junk and clean up the space environment.

The Force itself

To most Earth audiences, the Force was a mysterious energy field created by life that binds the galaxy together. That is until 1999, when “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” revealed that the Force came from midi-chlorians, a microscopic, sentient life form that lives within every living cell. To biologists, midi-chlorians sound suspiciously similar to mitochondria, the powerhouse of our cells. The current working hypothesis is that mitochondria emerged from bacteria that lived within cells of other living things. And mitochondria can communicate with other life forms, including bacteria. There are many different kinds of mitochondria, and medical professionals are learning how to transplant mitochondria from one cell to another just like they transplant organs from one person’s body to another. Maybe one day a transplant procedure could help people find the light side of the Force and turn away from the dark side. May the Fourth – and the Force – be with you. Daniel B. Oerther, Professor of Environmental Health Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology and William Schonberg, Professor of Civil Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Matthew Pittman, University of Tennessee What makes something a flop? Not the kind of flop that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is prone to do, but a flop in the world of advertising? Brands airing Super Bowl ads have a lot riding on their investments – roughly US$7 million for a 30-second spot for the 2025 big game. So there’s a lot of pressure to get things right. In my advertising classes, I often tell students that a commercial that’s controversial or disliked in the moment shouldn’t necessarily be considered a failure. In fact, enragement drives engagement. So if one of the goals of advertising is to keep the brand top of mind for consumers, a hated Super Bowl ad still accomplishes at least one goal. Think of the now-infamous Pepsi ad where Kendall Jenner “solves racism” with a can of Pepsi. Or all those raunchy GoDaddy ads that everyone rolled their eyes at, but the company kept running, year after year. Instead, a true advertising face-plant is a commercial that’s both tone-deaf and completely forgettable – so dull, off-putting or confusing that when a brand completely switches up its strategy, you almost don’t remember the massive blunder that compelled it to change course in the first place. Almost. So with this definition in mind, here are my submissions for five of the biggest Super Bowl advertising flops.

1. General Motors, 2007

A GM robot gets so depressed after getting fired that it jumps off a bridge to end its own existence. How endearing. The ad for the then-struggling automaker, which aired during Super Bowl 41 between the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears, features a robot that struggles with depression and existential angst after learning its services are no longer needed on the assembly line. The robot questions its meaning and purpose and tries to combine dark humor and social commentary about the monotony of work and the inevitability of technological progress. But it ends up missing the mark for a few reasons. Suicide is pretty bleak for a Super Bowl spot, and mental health, in general, is a sensitive topic. There was little effort made to connect the spot to core GM brand values, which include inspiring “passion and loyalty” and “serving and improving communities.” Furthermore, the idea of robots having human emotions can be off-putting for many consumers – particularly at a time when many automotive and factory workers in the U.S. were rightly concerned about robots taking their jobs.

2. Groupon, 2011

Sometimes I try to imagine the meetings at ad agencies where ideas for clients are batted around: “We need to promote this new app that lets families get products like smoothies at slightly discounted prices.” “OK, how about this: It starts as a Tibetan tourism ad. Then it takes a dark turn and suggests that Tibet is about to be wiped off the map. That’s when our client’s product gets introduced: We tell viewers that before Tibetan culture goes extinct, they should try fish curry, like these 200 people in Chicago who saved $15 at a Himalayan restaurant using Groupon.” “Excuse me?” “Oh – and let’s have the narrator be a white guy with long sideburns.” I have no idea how this one avoided the cutting-room floor.

3. Nationwide Insurance, 2015

The insurance company used a strange mix of heartbreak and guilt-tripping to try to entice viewers to buy its policies during Super Bowl 49. The ad features a young boy narrating in a somber tone, listing all of the milestones he’ll miss because he’s dead: learning to ride a bike, travel the world, get married. The twist is that the cause of his death is an accident. That’s where Nationwide comes in: They offer life insurance to help offset tragedies. But wait – insurance doesn’t prevent tragedies. It merely provides compensation to “replace” what you lost. Both the morbid tone and twist were bizarre. Exploiting tragedies in advertisements is generally not going to win people over. I can’t imagine how it would feel to be a parent who’s lost a child and see this TV ad.

4. Audi, 2020

Can a “Game of Thrones” star join forces with Disney while highlighting the importance of sustainability to create an ad for … Audi? In the minute-long spot, Masie Williams, who plays Arya Stark on “Game of Thrones,” belts out the lyrics to “Let It Go,” the hit single from Disney’s “Frozen.” As she drives, pedestrians join her in song. At the end of the ad, Audi announces that they are finally making an electric car. The ad seems to be about “letting go” of fossil fuel dependence – the gas sign yells it, car dealership yells it, mechanics yell it – almost two decades after the first major electric car hit the market. Was it meant to be empowering? Funny? Inspirational? It tried to do a little bit of everything, leaving viewers grasping and gasping. Not to mention the song “Let It Go” had come out seven years prior, which made the whole production seem even more dated.

5. Just For Feet, 1999

Close your eyes. Imagine an ad that’s racist and confusing. Imagine an ad in which the main character is disappointed to receive the product being advertised. Imagine an ad so bad that the company sues the agency responsible for the ad because it destroyed their reputation and bankrupted them. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Just For Feet’s “Kenyan Runner” Super Bowl ad. The ad depicts a barefoot Kenyan runner sprinting across a rugged landscape as a group of white men in military SUVs tracks him down as if on a hunting expedition. After they eventually catch him, they forcibly drug him by offering a mysterious beverage. The runner drinks it, collapses and wakes up to find that he is now wearing a pair of Just For Feet sneakers. He looks confused and distressed, as if he’d been violated. Bizarre and unsettling, indeed. Just For Feet filed for bankruptcy less than a year later. Matthew Pittman, Associate Professor of Advertising and Public Relations, University of Tennessee This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.