From Reel to Reality.(life imitates science fiction)(Brief Article)

Life imitates art--even Hollywood art. There have been several recent instances of Hollywood replicating itself in real life. First, Americans have been running scared from the possibility of a dirty-bomb attack--a plot James Bond and Pussy Galore foiled almost four decades ago in "Goldfinger." (By all means, appreciate the similarities with the world of Ian Fleming. But don't expect Al Qaeda to give the CIA guided tours of its underground lairs and reveal how it plans to destroy the world.)

And what about those apocalypse-by-meteorite blockbusters in the late '90s? The Earth recently dodged a giant bullet when an asteroid the size of a football pitch came within 120,000 kilometers of our blue- green sphere. (Cosmically speaking, that's way too close for comfort.) A collision would have created the effect of a nuclear explosion--just as in movies like "Deep Impact." But unlike in those films, NASA never even noticed the looming patch of armageddon until it had sailed past us. Then again, if modern technology is to be believed, we could have just ...