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<ul><li>Roddenberry Entertainment has created a non-fungible token (NFT) of sci-fi legend <keyword id="538457" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gene-roddenberry" source="Orion">Gene Roddenberry</keyword>’s signature on the first-ever <keyword id="112242" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="star-trek" source="Orion">Star Trek</keyword> contract.</li><li>The signature of the man who created Star Trek will be stored on the DNA code of bacteria.</li><li>In the 10 hours after being implanted, the bacteria had already replicated to create billions of copies of the NFT.</li></ul>Sci-fi legend Gene Roddenberry’s signature on the first ever contract for <em>Star Trek </em>with Lucille Ball’s Desilu Productions is being minted on the <a href="http://coindcx.com">Solana</a> blockchain but is being stored organically, on DNA. According to the creators, Roddenberry Entertainment, this is the first-ever living ecological non-fungible token (NFT).<br /><br />The signature from the contract dated 18 May 1965 will be implanted in DNA code into the cell of live bacteria. And, as the bacteria replicates and duplicates itself, so will the NFT — a supply of a billion in one night.<br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Star Trek NFTs may come back as zombie bacteria" comment="subhead" text="Star Trek NFTs may come back as zombie bacteria"><span data-til="noop">Star Trek NFTs may come back as zombie bacteria</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />One could argue that if there are billions of copies of the same NFT being created on a daily basis, it’s not really unique. However, the creators have named the NFT ‘El Primero’, which means ‘the first’ in Spanish. <br /><br />The bacteria cells are currently dormant. The sample was freeze-dried after 10 hours of embedding the code. The creators say this leaves the door open for reanimation in the future, at which time the bacteria will be able to begin replicating themselves once again. <br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Living eco-NFTs want to address the environment controversy" comment="subhead" text="Living eco-NFTs want to address the environment controversy"><span data-til="noop">Living eco-NFTs want to address the environment controversy<br /></span></cmsannotation><br />It’s not only fossil fuels and mining for cryptocurrencies that have taken a hit for being a contributor to climate change. NFTs too have appeared on the radar for being a energy-guzzling process, especially since a lot of it happens on the Ethereum blockchain.<br /><br /><br />According to the creators, the <keyword id="12668731" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="star-trek-nft" source="Orion">Star Trek NFT</keyword> will be carbon-neutral if not carbon negative, since it’s minted using bacteria. Certain <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2021/03/20/how-synthetic-data-could-save-ai/">research</a> has shown that the use of synthetic DNA for data storage has the potential to cut down on greenhouse emissions and energy usage as compared to the commercial options available today.<br /><br /><br />Moreover, the Star Trek NFT is being placed on the Solana blockchain. Dubbed as one of the ‘Ethereum Killers’ in the crypto market, Solana uses the proof-of-stake (PoS) validation method, which consumes less energy to verify transactions as compared to the proof-of-work (PoW) method currently employed by Ethereum. <br /><br /><br />According to <a href="https://digiconomist.net/ethereum-energy-consumption">digiconomist</a>, a single transaction on the Ethereum blockchain uses just as much electricity as an average US household over the course of nearly a week. Meanwhile, a single transaction on Solana only uses as much power as <a href="https://solana.com/news/solana-energy-usage-report-november-2021">two Google searches</a>.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/hackers-steal-120-million-from-defi-protocol-badgerdao-platform-hits-indefinite-pause-on-all-smart-contract-activity/articleshow/88068762.cms">Hackers steal $120 million from DeFi protocol BadgerDAO — platform hits indefinite pause on all smart contract activity</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/alibaba-tencent-and-other-chinese-players-are-betting-big-on-the-metaverse-but-the-government-is-yet-to-buy-into-the-hype/articleshow/88062372.cms"><strong>Alibaba, Tencent, and other Chinese players are betting big on the metaverse — but the government is yet to buy into the hype</strong></a><br />

A new Star Trek NFT is stored on the DNA of bacteria, and there are billions of copies already

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A US spacecraft carrying human remains launched on Monday in a bid to land on the moon. </li><li>Peregrine could become the first US mission in more than 50 years to complete a touchdown.</li></ul><p>A US spacecraft carrying <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-cremated-remains-celestis-2019-6">human remains</a> launched on Monday in a bid to become the first private mission to land on the moon.</p><p>If it succeeds, Peregrine will also be the first US mission in more than 50 years to complete a lunar touchdown and could pave the way for commercial space services, such as lunar burials.</p><p>"This is the moment we've been waiting for 16 years," John Thornton, CEO of Astrobiotic, the company behind the lander, said after the launch. "We are on our way to the moon."</p><p>The Vulcan Centaur rocket, developed by United Launch Alliance, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at around 2 a.m. ET.</p><p>Around an hour later, the Peregrine spacecraft separated from the rocket and began its journey to the lunar surface, where it is expected to land on February 23.</p><p>The commercial mission is carrying more than 20 payloads, including five scientific missions from NASA and some more unconventional items like human DNA and cremated remains.</p><div type="image" title="An image shows the Astrobotic lander positioned inside the ULA rocket. The rocket is halfway opened, revealing the lander." height="798" width="1200" msid="106642840" hostid="261" sizebytes="90620"></div><p>Several capsules on board the lander are part of a memorial service offered by private companies Celestis and Elysium Space. Both offer to take ashes to space, while Celestis will also bring human DNA from a mouth swab.</p><p>Celestis had two payloads on the launch: one aboard the United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket that sent the lander to space, and one aboard the Peregrine lander heading to the moon itself.</p><p>The remains and DNA brought on the rocket include Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator, and actors who played in the show, including Roddenberry's wife Majel Barrett, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/science/vulcan-rocket-launch-moon.html">per The New York Times.</a></p><p>Another capsule contains the hair of George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, per The Times.</p><p>As for those whose DNA and ashes are heading to the moon aboard Peregrine, one name stands out — Arthur C Clarke, famed science-fiction writer who co-wrote the script for 2001: A Space Odyssey with American film director Stanley Kubrick, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.celestis.com/launch-schedule/tranquility-flight/">per Celestis's website</a>.</p><p>Celestis's moon service starts at about $13,000, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.celestis.com/experiences-pricing/">per its website.</a></p><p>This isn't the first time human remains have been taken to space — or even the first time Gene Roddenberry's cremated remains have flown above our planet. The screenwriter was also part of the first human "space burial" in 1992 when his ashes were <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/78x73q/the-ashes-of-dead-people-orbiting-earth">put aboard NASA's spacecraft Columbia.</a></p><p>This launch has been controversial, drawing ire in particular from the Navajo Nation, who see the moon as sacred.</p><p>In response, NASA said that the mission is privately owned and that the agency has no say in the other payload on board, per Space.com.</p><p>Thornton, the chief executive of Astrobotic, said on Friday that he was disappointed that "this conversation came up so late in the game," according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/science/vulcan-rocket-launch-moon.html">The New York Times.</a></p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">"We really are trying to do the right thing," Mr. Thornton said. "I hope we can find a good path forward with the Navajo Nation."</p><p>The Peregrine isn't just carrying human remains. NASA's payload on board also includes instruments that will set out to measure water molecules on the moon, as well as radiation, and gases around the lander. They will investigate the exosphere, a thin layer of gases that floats around the moon, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/clps/nasa-sending-five-payloads-to-moon-on-astrobotics-peregrine-lander/">per a NASA press release.</a></p><p>The lander is headed to the "Bay of Stickiness," Sinus Viscositatis, a lunar feature located in the upper left side of the near side of the moon where scientists believe they could find evidence of water, per NASA.</p><p>Astrobotic has a tough route ahead as lunar landings are notoriously tricky. Last year, Russia <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-luna-25-crash-land-on-moon-2023-8">tried to reach the moon</a> with its own landers but the mission ended in crashes.</p><p>India, however, made history <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-india-attempt-first-ever-moon-landing-2023-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">last August </a>by becoming only the fourth nation to reach the moon after landing its robotic mission near the south pole of the moon.</p><p>There is a chance that the Astrobotic lander could be the first private spacecraft to reach the moon, but it has stiff competition. Houston-based private firm, Intuitive Machines, has scheduled to launch its own lander in a few weeks but could beat Astrobotic to the landing by just one day, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jaxas-slim-spacecraft-japan-first-moon-landing-attempt-2023-12?r=US&amp;IR=T">per Space.com.</a></p><div type="image" title="A still from a video shows a rocket taking off carrying the Peregrine launcher." height="1080" width="1920" msid="106642843" hostid="261" sizebytes="94626"></div><p>The launch comes among a renewed global frenzy to return to the moon. NASA is in the midst of its Artemis mission program, which aims to put astronaut's boots back on the moon <a target="_blank" href="https://www.flyingmag.com/gao-nasas-artemis-iii-moon-landing-timeline-unlikely/">by late 2025.</a></p><p>In late 2022, the agency sent its moon megarocket flying <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasas-artemis-1-rocket-sending-quirky-cargo-moon-and-back-2022-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">uncrewed</a> around the moon. It aims to attempt the rocket's first crewed launch in 2024.</p><p>The US isn't the only one that has set its sights on the moon, which has been tagged as a pit stop on the way to Mars, a strategic objective for those aiming to fly further into space.</p><p>China also has plans to put humans on the moon by the end of the decade.</p><p>Even if the Astrobotic lander doesn't make it, the launch was a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-helping-private-companies-build-business-moon-make-lunar-billions-2023-6">win for NASA</a>. Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One is the first of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)-backed missions to launch.</p><p>The NASA CLPS program backs private firms to provide a lunar service for the agency, in exchange for a set fee. NASA has used this approach to support the development of a private industry around its return to the moon.</p>

The first US moon lander in more than 50 years launched with human remains on board, paving the way for space burials

<ul class="summary-list"><li>'Star Trek' made TV history when it aired an episode where Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura kissed on screen.</li><li>The moment is widely regarded as one of American TV's first interracial kisses.</li></ul><p>When Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura kissed on screen in 1968, it made TV history.</p><p>The kiss between the "Star Trek" characters, played by William Shatner and Nichelle Nichols, is widely regarded as one of American TV's first interracial kisses.</p><p>"Star Trek" has left a lauded legacy for featuring a multiracial crew working together to explore space. Nichols, considered a trailblazer for Black actors, was one of the first Black women to star in a major television series. She <a href="https://www.insider.com/nichelle-nichols-dead-star-trek-actress-2022-7">died</a> on July 30 at 89 years old.</p><h2>Concerns over the interracial kiss</h2><p>The episode aired at a time when America was still grappling with racism and civil rights. Just one year prior, the Supreme Court made a landmark civil rights decision in Loving v. Virginia, <a href="https://www.insider.com/roe-wade-loving-virginia-interracial-marriage-scotus-overturns-2022-6">a case that now protects interracial marriage under the 14th amendment.</a></p><p>Worried the kiss would anger TV stations in the Deep South, NBC executives tried to have Spock, who is half-Vulcan — an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the series — kiss Uhura instead. Shatner insisted they stick with the original script, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VO2fJMOdQ24C&amp;pg=PA38">according to</a> critical race scholar and filmmaker Daniel Bernardi, who wrote the book "Star Trek and History."</p><p>Showrunners ended up filming two versions of the scene: one with an on-screen kiss, and one that took place off-screen. But Nichols and Shatner deliberately flubbed lines so the original shot would be used, Nichols said in her autobiography, "<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Beyond_Uhura.html?id=AbtNPgAACAAJ">Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories</a>."</p><p>"The only alternative was to cut out the scene altogether, but that was impossible to do without ruining the entire episode. Finally, the guys in charge relented: 'To hell with it. Let's go with the kiss.' I guess they figured we were going to be canceled in a few months anyway. And so the kiss stayed," Nichols wrote.</p><h2>A lasting legacy</h2><p>Despite initial concerns, the episode aired without huge backlash, and has since been <a href="https://tvline.com/gallery/star-trek-original-series-best-scenes-photos/st-kirk-uhura-2/">ranked</a> by several media outlets as <a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/the-50-greatest-star-trek-moments-of-all-time/">one of the top moments in "Star Trek."</a></p><p>Even Nichols wrote in her book that "for me, the most memorable episode of our last season was 'Plato's Stepchildren,'" as the episode was titled.</p><p>The "Star Trek" series has been regaled — and sometimes criticized — for shattering taboos and crossing boundaries of what's deemed acceptable. In a 1966 episode, Lieutenant Uhura and Christine Chapel, played by white actress Majel Barrett, shared a friendly kiss.</p><p>More recently in 2016,  "Star Trek" revealed that <a href="https://www.insider.com/mr-sulu-is-going-to-be-openly-gay-in-the-next-star-trek-movie-2016-7">Hikaru Sulu, played by John Cho, is openly gay.</a></p><p>"The whole show was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but to take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms," Gene Roddenberry, the show's creator, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpHAUcVC9qk">said</a>.</p>

The story behind 'TV's first interracial kiss' between 'Star Trek's' Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Wikimedia Commons</span></p><p class="caption">Lucille Ball saved "Star Trek."</p></div><p></p></div></div>Lucille Ball kept the Starship Enterprise in flight.</p><p>The comedy icon's company, Desilu Productions, was responsible for <span>Gene Roddenberry's original "Star Trek" series.</span></p><p><span>Desilu was <span>one of the largest independent production companies in Hollywood and of course was the driving force behind Ball's star-making vehicle "I Love Lucy," which ran from 1951 to 1957.</span></span></p><p><span><span>But it was also responsible for "The Andy Griffith Show," "The Untouchables," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," and more. </span></span></p><p><span><span>Ball and then-husband and eventual "I Love Lucy" costar Desi Arnaz formed Desilu in 1950. Ball made most of all of the creative choices while Arnaz handled the business. The two worked as partners for years until they divorced in 1960, and Ball purchased Arnaz's share of the company in 1962. </span></span></p><p><span><span>Ball was the head of a major studio, and thus <span>one of the most powerful women in Hollywood at the time.</span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span>When the landmark "The Untouchables" ended its run in 1963, Desilu desperately needed another big hit. Herbert Solow, who was hired to find projects for the studio, brought Ball two proposals: one for <span>Roddenberry's </span>"Star Trek" and another for "Mission: Impossible."</span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span>It was clear that the "Star Trek" pilot would be expensive to film, but Ball - who actually believed the series was about traveling USO performers - overruled her board of directors and got the pilot produced.</span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span>The pilot, titled "The Cage," famously <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-trek-unexpected-afterlife-doomed-754166">flopped</a>. However, NBC pulled an unlikely move and ordered a second pilot, which came to be called "Where No <span>Man Has Gone Before," only retained Leonard Nimoy's Mr. Spock from the first pilot, and became the show it is known as today. Ball agreed to finance this reshoot, again over the preferences of her board of directors.</span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span>So Ball is the one who let "Star Trek" live long and prosper. Thanks, Lucy.</span></span></span></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/daniel-radcliffe-imperium-trailer-white-supremacy-2016-7">Watch 'Harry Potter's' Daniel Radcliffe infiltrate a white supremacy group in the trailer for 'Imperium'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="dtbGFsNDE6KHvXY9remHWGmUqsbJvZau" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Lucille Ball is the reason we have 'Star Trek' - here's what happened

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Valerie Macon/ Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">George Takei at the Human Rights Campaign Los Angeles gala dinner in 2014.</p></div><p></p></div></div>"Star Trek Beyond" decided to reveal that franchise staple <span>Hikaru Sulu is gay, in a nod to George Takei, the actor who played the character in the original series.</span></p><p><span>Takei came out in 2005 and is a vocal activist for LGBT rights. The change makes Sulu the first openly gay character in the "Star Trek" franchise.</span></p><p>But Takei isn't pleasued with the choice made by writer and star Simon Pegg and director Justin Lin.</p><p><span>"I'm delighted that there's a gay character," he told <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/george-takei-reacts-gay-sulu-909154">The Hollywood Reporter</a></span><span>. "Unfortunately, it's a twisting of Gene's [<span>Roddenberry, the series creator]</span> creation, to which he put in so much thought. I think it's really unfortunate." </span></p><p>Cho told The <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/movies/star-trek-beyond-favourite-mr-sulu-has-come-out-as-castmates-reflect-on-the-death-of-anton-yelchin/news-story/51909410e4e465f825470c4dfbcc17ec?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter">Herald Sun</a> that he liked how the inclusion of Sulu's sexuality wasn't politicized. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cho told Takei about the decision last year, and Takei tried to convince him <span>to make a new character gay instead. </span></p><p><span>"I told him, 'Be imaginative and create a character who has a history of being gay, rather than Sulu, who had been straight all this time, suddenly being revealed as being closeted,'" Takei said.</span></p><p><span>Takei tried the same plea with Lin, urging him to honor Roddenberry's original vision b</span><span>ecause "Star Trek Beyond" is coming out on the 50th anniversary of "Star Trek."</span></p><p>It's probaby just as initially surprising to fans as it was to the creators to hear that Takei is disappointed with the change to his beloved character. But his point is valid. Sulu has already been accepted in the "Star Trek" world, thus fans will likely have little trouble still loving him with this new information.</p><p><span></span><span><span>"Star Trek Beyond" will premiere nationwide on July 22.</span></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/things-you-missed-on-game-of-thrones-2016-6">4 things you might have missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ttNnY5NDE6aZ_ah9Ewr7qVyoDu2i1_BY" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

George Takei didn't want this 'Star Trek' character to be gay: 'I think it's really unfortunate'

<p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="United States Library of Congress" title_caption="Martin Luther King Jr." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bfd75a371d22dd2e8bb578-960/martin luther king jr..jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>United States Library of Congress</span></p><p class="caption">Martin Luther King Jr.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Martin Luther King Jr. was a huge "Star Trek" fan, and his love for the show wasn't mutually exclusive from his passion for ending racial prejudice.</p><p class="p2">"I am the biggest Trekkie on the planet, and I am lieutenant Uhura's most ardent fan," the civil rights activist reportedly told actress Nichelle Nichols when they met at a NAACP fundraiser in Beverly Hills.</p><p class="p2">Nichols played Communication Officer Lieutenant Uhura on "Star Trek" and is credited as playing the first nonarchetypal or stereotypical black woman on American television.</p><p class="p2">So when King heard the actress had plans to leave after the first season, he was adamant that she reconsider.</p><p class="p2">During a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3f6oq1/i_am_nichelle_nichols_star_treks_uhura_first/">Reddit AMA</a> last week, Nichols writes that King said something along the lines of, "Nichelle, whether you like it or not, you have become a symbol. If you leave, they can replace you with a blonde haired white girl, and it will be like you were never there. What you've accomplished, for all of us, will only be real if you stay."</p><p class="p2">"That got me thinking about how it would look for fans of color around the country if they saw me leave," Nichols writes. "I saw that this was bigger than just me."</p><p class="p2">As many "Star Trek" fans already know, Gene Roddenberry, the show's creator, saw the show as a vehicle to influence social change.</p><p class="p2">"He didn't talk about it, he just did it," Nichols said of Roddenberry's mission to create a better world. "It was who he was. He believed in that world, if you got it you got it. If you didn't get it, you'd see it anyway."</p><p class="p2">So when Nichols told Roddenberry that King helped her change her mind, he reportedly responded, "Finally, someone gets it."</p><p class="p1"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Paramount Television" title_caption="Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura on " Star="" Trek.="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bfdbfe2acae78a008bcb8b-960/uhura.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Paramount Television</span></p><p class="caption">Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura on "Star Trek."</p></div><p></p></div></div>Nichols remained in her role until the show's end in 1969, and she went on to work with NASA to help recruit females and minorities, including the first American female astronaut, Sally Ride. Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison, the first black woman to travel in space, <a href="https://today.duke.edu/2013/10/maejemison">also credits Nichol's role as her inspiration</a> for wanting to become an astronaut.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-things-say-job-interview-career-2015-7">8 things you should never say in a job interview</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="NiZXU2bDpXI0xqlEPps9Dtf4p7q_OVA0" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

How Martin Luther King Jr. convinced a trailblazing 'Star Trek' actress not to quit her job

<p>"Live long, and prosper."</p><p>It's one of the most famous phrases in the history of entertainment, and most certainly the collection of words that come to mind when you think of science fiction's beloved Mister Spock.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/actor-leonard-nimoy-dies-at-age-83-2015-2">The world lost Leonard Nimoy</a> on Friday at the age of 83.</p><p>The character Spock was, of course, half Vulcan. And along with that famous phrase came a famous Vulcan salute.</p><p>It looks like this:</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>But where did it come from? It turns out it came from Nimoy himself and has very personal origins.</p><p>He says in his autobiography that&#xa0;it is a priestly blessing that forms&#xa0;the&#xa0;Hebrew&#xa0;letter&#xa0;Shin.</p><p>He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyiWkWcR86I">spoke to the Hebrew Book Center</a> about encountering this blessing as a child: He was watching a ceremony with 4 or 5 men, and then his father told him not to look.</p><p>"<span style="color: #000000;">I hear this strange sound coming from them, they're not singers, they were shouters, and dissonant, it was all discordant," he said.</span></p><p><span style="color: #000000;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><br /></span></p><div>"It was chilling, like whoa! Something major is happening here. So I peeked, and I saw them with their hands stuck out."</div><div></div><div><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></div><div><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.5em;">"I had no idea what was going on but the sound of it and the look of it was magical."</span></div><p>Nimoy also invented the famous Vulcan nerve pinch. As <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090714071731/http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/community/chat/archive/transcript/1080.html">he told StarTrek.com</a>: "<span>The episode was "The Enemy Within". Kirk was split into two personalities and his evil side was attempting to kill his good side. Spock was supposed to sneak up behind the bad guy and hit him on the back of the head with a phaser... Not very Vulcan. So I invented the nerve pinch. The mind meld was a Gene Roddenberry creation, and I added the Vulcan hand salute from my own background."</span></p><div>The Vulcan salute first appeared in "Star Trek" in 1967 with the episode "Amok Time," according to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_salute">Wikipedia</a>.</div><div><span>&#xa0;</span></div><div>You can see the whole interview segment here:</div><div></div><div><p class="embed-spacer"></p><div></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/neil-degrasse-tyson-interstellar-movie-ending-2014-12">Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains The End Of 'Interstellar'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ljZmNvcTrscgB3MCGruOJEHbOVU5A1fF" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Leonard Nimoy created the Vulcan salute based off an unforgettable childhood experience

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Star Trek</span></p><p class="caption">The USS Enterprise, as seen in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation.'</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The 10th edition of New York Comic Con boldly went where no one has gone before by hosting a panel discussion on the economic issues of "Star Trek."</p><p>Held Sunday, October 11, "The Amazing Economics of Star Trek" panel examined the concepts of scarcity and post-scarcity as portrayed in the classic science-fiction franchise.</p><p>The physics and political and religious themes of "Trek" have already been tackled in books, but not the universe's economic aspects.</p><p>The main talking point in the panel was whether or not the post-scarcity universe of "Trek" is as Utopian as it's portrayed on TV and in film.</p><p>The panel consisted of "Trek" writer Chris Black; Manu Saadia, author of the book "Trekonomics"; Annalee Newitz, founding editor of the culture site io9; moderator Felix Salmon, of Fusion; Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist; and Brad DeLong, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley.</p><p>"Star Trek" is a sci-fi universe with a positive outlook of Earth's future. The United Federation of Planets uses its Starfleet armada of spaceships for humanitarian and peace-keeping missions. Many of the storylines are allegories of contemporary culture.</p><p>Some of the main talking points were the portrayals of scarcity and post-scarcity in "Trek," whether or not the concept of economics makes sense in "Trek," and whether or not a post-scarcity society is Utopian.</p><p>"Gene Roddenberry tried to paint our future," said DeLong, noting that we've gone far down that road. "We're now, in fact, approaching post-scarcity in food and products."</p><p>But as Newitz pointed out, because "Trek" is a future where money no longer exists, people work because they want to but are therefore supported by other economies. To prove her point, she cited as an example "Measure of a Man," an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" that centered on the character of Lt. Cmdr. Data, an android.</p><p>Even though Data is a crewmember of the starship "Enterprise," unlike his fellow crewmates, he's a robot. But does that make him a person or Starfleet property?</p><p>"We're constantly being reminded that slavery and low wages support the comfortable, 'Enterprise' living," <span>Newitz</span> said.</p><p>Krugman said that the replicator machines in "Trek" can make objects appear out of thin air, but there's a difference between goods and services. This is especially true when, currently, people use 30% of goods but 70% of services.</p><p>And if that's the case, then something - or someone - else is going to have to be put to work.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Brendan McDermid</span></p><p class="caption">Economist Paul Krugman was a panelist.</p></div><p></p></div></div>"The replicators can't help with that," he said. "The actual issue is to tell the difference between servitors and slaves."</p><p>In fact, the meritocracy of "Trek" was even compared to academia.</p><p>"The world of meritocracy and academia is very harsh," said Saadia. "What you see on the show are the 1%. You barely see the other side."</p><p>The 1%, in this case, would be the Starfleet officers, who live lives of abundance and work hard for their reputations. But does this mean that the 99% are happy?</p><p>"I look at it more through the lens of writing for a show," said Black. "These 1% are at the top of their game. Starfleet officers ... are very collaborative, which immediately took 95% of the drama out of the show."</p><p>And because of that, any conflict had to be external.</p><p>Salmon, the panel's moderator, pointed out that in 2016, "Star Trek" will turn 50 and Thomas More's book "Utopia" will turn 500. He then asked the panel if there is anything Utopian about "Trek."</p><p>"We are problem-solving, puzzle-solving, status-seeking creatures," DeLong said.</p><p>Krugman responded by saying: "People have an amazing ability to be unhappy. The problem with Utopia is not the lack of scarcity - it's people."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/most-creative-costumes-new-york-comic-con-2015-10">These are the most creative costumes we saw at New York Comic Con</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="p2MXA1eDpOob0Du5ldSnKb5WnDkhtltO" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The utopian future of 'Star Trek' doesn't work without extreme inequality and some slavery

<p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/153878202">Eamonn McCormack / Stringer</a></span></p><p class="caption">Martin Landau</p><p>Oscar-winning actor<span> </span><a href="http://variety.com/t/martin-landau/">Martin Landau</a>, most closely associated with scene-stealing character turns in such films as "North by Northwest," "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "<a href="http://variety.com/t/ed-wood/">Ed Wood</a>" as well as the classic TV series "<a href="http://variety.com/t/mission-impossible/">Mission: Impossible</a>," died Saturday in Los Angeles, according to his publicist. He had been hospitalized at UCLA where he experienced complications. He was 89.</p><p>The lanky, offbeat-looking veteran of the Actors Studio, for he which he was currently West Coast co-artistic director, had many ups and downs in his career.  His greatest successes (three Oscar nominations and one win) came later in life when he returned to character roles like the one that first won him notice, as James Mason's sinister gay henchman in Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest."</p><p>He was Emmy-nominated five times, and most of his leading man roles came on television, most notably as Rollin Hand, a master of disguise on "Mission: Impossible." He later spent a couple of years starring in syndicated sci-fi series "Space: 1999," on which, as with "Mission: Impossible," he co-starred with then-wife Barbara Bain.</p><p>After a dry spell, his career roared back to life in the late 1980s when Francis Ford Coppola cast him in "Tucker: The Man and His Dream," which brought Landau the first of three supporting noms. It was, he reminded one journalist, the first time this "Jewish kid from Brooklyn" took a role that called for him to play Jewish.</p><p>An even more impressive turn as a successful Jewish ophthalmologist haunted by a secret in Woody Allen's drama "Crimes and Misdemeanors" brought him an Oscar nomination for the second year in a row.</p><p>In 1994 came the part of a lifetime for a character actor, the dying, once-famous screen ghoul Bela Lugosi, in Tim Burton's whacked-out "Ed Wood." Landau won the supporting actor Oscar.</p><p>Landau made his first bigscreen impression in Alfred Hitchcock's action suspenser "North by Northwest," playing the villain who does Mason's dirty work. The role led to a major supporting role in the epic "Cleopatra," on which Landau spent a year, only to find most of his role as General Rufio on the cutting-room floor. "What could I do?" he later lamented. "They couldn't cut Richard Burton or Elizabeth Taylor."</p><p>During the 1960s he had character roles in "The Greatest Story Ever Told," "Nevada Smith" and "The Hallelujah Trail."</p><p>Landau had been doing television work since the 1950s but got busy in TV in the mid-'60s, with several guest appearances on sci-fier "The Outer Limits" and spy skein "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." He was producer Gene Roddenberry's first choice for the role of Spock on "Star Trek," but the role wound up going to Leonard Nimoy after Landau opted for "Mission: Impossible." (Nimoy would later take a recurring role on "Mission: Impossible.")</p><p>On the enormously successful "Mission: Impossible," Landau and Bain played well off one another and with the rest of the regular ensemble, which included Peter Graves. Landau stayed with the series for three years, through 1969, drawing Emmy nominations three years in a row. He said his reason for leaving (and Bain's as well) was artistic differences over the general direction of the show, though others claim salary demands were the real problem.</p><p> However, roles in "A Town Called Hell," "Operation Snafu" and another villain role in "They Call Me Mister Tibbs" didn't result in major acclaim.</p><p>Television came to the rescue again with the two-year run of "Space: 1999" in the mid-'70s. Numerous TV movie turns reached a nadir with "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" in 1981.</p><p>He and Bain divorced, and Landau spent the '80s in roles in mostly obscure films. He also worked as an acting teacher.</p><p>After the successes of "Tucker," "Crimes and Misdemeanors" and "Ed Wood," Landau had a steady stream of mostly supporting work on the bigscreen from the mid-'90s through the late 2000s.</p><p>He brought poignancy to his role as a judge in "City Hall" and played Gepetto in "The Adventures of Pinocchio." He contributed a memorable turn to "The X-Files" movie in 1998, worked for Burton again in "Sleepy Hollow" and took roles in "Rounders," "The Majestic" and "Hollywood Homicide."</p><p>He had a series of roles in small films including 2006's "David and Fatima" and starred in 2008's "Harrison Montgomery."</p><p>There was also higher-profile work: Landau starred with Judy Parfitt in 2004 Holocaust drama "The Aryan Couple." He also had a role in "City of Ember" and did voicework for the 2009 animated feature "9" and 2012's "Frankenweenie."</p><p>Landau provided voices for the 1997 Oscar-winning documentary "The Long Way Home" and appeared as himself in the docus "Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's," "Cannes: Through the Eyes of the Hunter" and "Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There" (2003) as well as a 2011 "American Masters" documentary on Woody Allen.</p><p>He kept his hand in on the smallscreen as well, starring in the miniseries "Bonanno: A Godfather's Story" and appearing as a series regular on the brief ABC series "The Evidence." He recurring notably on "Without a Trace" as Anthony LaPaglia's father with Alzheimer's and on "Entourage" as a washed-up producer, drawing Emmy nominations in 2004 and 2005 for the former and in 2007 for the latter. Most recently he appeared in "The Last Poker Game" with Paul Sorvino, which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, and in "Remember" for director Atom Egoyan.</p><p>Also in the 2000s, Landau worked as an acting coach in a venture with director Mark Rydell and screenwriter-playwriter Lyle Kessler.</p><p>The Brooklynite started out as a cartoonist, spending four years with the New York Daily News from 1948-51, then turned his attentions to acting. He claimed that he and Steve McQueen were the only two among 2,000 applicants whose auditions gained them admittance to the Actors Studio (of which Landau later became an officer).</p><p>Landau did some stage work, most notably touring with the Paddy Chayefsky play "Middle of the Night" in 1956-57. He married one of the understudies, Bain, whom he met in Curt Conway's acting classes.</p><p>His film debut came in a small role in "Pork Chop Hill" in 1959, followed by a larger role in "The Gazebo." Then he drew attention for his role in "North by Northwest."</p><p>He is survived by two daughters, writer-producer-casting director Susan Landau Finch and thesp Juliet Landau of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fame, a sister and a granddaughter.</p><p>Donations may be made to<span> </span><a href="http://theactorsstudio.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Actors Studio West</a>, Attn: Helen Sanders, 8341 DeLongpre Ave., West Hollywood, Calif. 90069.</p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-holland-spider-man-training-2017-7">How Tom Holland trained to become Spider-Man</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video

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