Hello fellow crowned scientists!!! It’s been a while. Work has kept me busy. What keeps you guys busy? Now, let’s talk about The Crack in the World film. Have you seen it? I found this little gem on Amazon one lazy Sunday afternoon I’m pretty sure the 60’s was a time full of ambitious scientists, their projects, and lsd? (J/k). But seriously, what we call think tanks today may have looked liked more like chalk boards filled rooms full of passionate debates, cigarette smoke, and stale coffee. Imagine yelling at one another over geoengineering, deep-sea mining, and high-risk energy extraction as everyone tries to one up each other.

The Crack in the World is a simple, yet fast paced, drama based on a nuclear-drilling project gone wrong. It shows us why we should be cautious about technological advances, resource extraction, and the risks that come with deep Earth drilling.

The Ambitious Dr. vs. The Precautionary Dr.

Project Inner Space, located in Tanganyika (Africa), is an international energy research project led by Dr. Stephen Sorenson. The project’s main mission is to drill through the Earth’s crust to reach magma. Why magma? Dr. Sorenson believes this to be a limitless source of power. Liquid gold! Free energy for ALL baby! Plus it’s renewable….sounds nice in theory. I mean energy is all around us right? Anyways…

When normal drilling processes falter in the quest to reach magma, Dr. Sorenson forces the idea to send a thermonuclear bomb deep underground to blast through Earth’s crust. The global stakeholders agree to his launch. Enter right stage, the young and handsome Geologist, Dr. Ted Rampion, who strongly opposes the plan. His research shows this is a recipe for disaster. Doesn’t this narrative sound familiar? In the pursuit of energy security and technological advancement, we’re bound to see opposing scientific differences and opinions.

Disaster? What Disaster?

Of course Dr. Sorenson ignores Dr. Rampion and any other warnings and proceeds with the nuclear blast. He literally has nothing to lose….he’s dying from cancer and I’m pretty sure his legacy is all he’s concerned with. So he and his team minimize all risks through a humorous display of antics to gain project approval. After the detonation, a massive crack occurs in the Earth’s crust causing fissures to run along fault lines. There is a sudden chain of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and islands sinking below sea level (think Atlantis).

To stop the fissure from spreading, they decide to send a second nuclear bomb into the magma chamber. Dr. Rampion (The Champion …sorry had to get that out) delivers grim news; based on his research, post missile deployment, and his background he’s determined that the “crack felt around the world” would ultimately change planet Earth. While this movie goes into the beautiful realm of science fiction (I.e., the 2nd blast creating a 2nd moon), we also see the ecological metaphors dramatizing environmental tipping points. Makes you a bit grateful for regulations and scientific studies right?

1965 to Today: Preventing Unwanted Events

If I’m looking at this in 2026, The Crack in the World serves as an allegory for the dangers of relying on poor planning and technological fixes. The film explores the ecological damage that can be caused by technological innovation and high-risk intervention if the project isn’t properly vetted. A project of that stature should not have solely relied on internal risk assessments or single-institution decision-making. Nuclear power used in the US or anywhere should require independent peer reviews by a multidisciplinary team of scientists: geophysicists, climatologists, ecologists, geologists, and systems engineers.

The project would also have to account for any cumulative impacts like we saw in the movie. It seems we forget that disasters have the potential to occur when new stressors interact with existing vulnerabilities. Dr. Rampion informed the team of the vulnerabilities and they were ignored. He had knowledge of previous prior subsurface disturbance and the structural fault lines.

Earth’s tectonic, atmospheric, and oceanic systems tend to extend over geopolitical borders. The film reveals global catastrophic events and we saw Dr. Sorenson retreat once he failed. How do we prevent a Dr. Sorenson irl? Maybe have binding international agreements signed only after an environmental impact assessment is conducted. While we’re at it, throw some contingencies in there that include monitoring networks, multilateral failure procedures (site specific), and a global delegation to stop the project if things aren’t aligned with the agreed terms and conditions of the plans.

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As Always….Stay Curious