Yup. Even Jules Verne would have enjoyed this fantastic journey through #Mirai’s hydrogen fuel cell system. https://t.co/agusApxEYv pic.twitter.com/k0CIqNPuFT
— Toyota Motor Corp. (@ToyotaMotorCorp) December 21, 2016
Hydrogen power is taking California by storm as the next big eco-friendly fuel. Hydrogen is also fascinating from a scientific point of view. Theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku has long been an outspoken supporter of the Toyota Mirai. Recently, he appeared in a delightfully animated 3D form (really -- the rendering is adorable!) for a 360 Video, which shrinks viewers to the size of a single hydrogen atom.
Along the tour, Dr. Kaku explains how the Mirai's hydrogen fuel cells create energy using oxygen from the air, and generate no carbon emissions whatsoever.
We were left with only one burning question -- was Toyota's caption "Yup. Even Jules Verne would have enjoyed this fantastic journey" an esoteric reference, or a common mistake?
Jules Verne was one of the most influential science fiction writers of the 19th century. He wrote many ground-breaking stories, but none of them involved shrinking human beings down to microscopic levels. The film Fantastic Voyage, in which a crew shrinks itself to journey through the human body, was written in 1966 by Harry Kleiner. It may have been misattributed to Verne because the plot takes place in the 19th century as an homage, and because some of the same production crew worked on both Fantastic Voyage and the movie adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Then again, Verne could have been mentioned as a clever reference for sci-fi lovers. Perhaps alternate title for the video could be: "Journey to the Center of the Mirai."
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