![\"The](\"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Rachel_The_Most_Unknown_800.jpg\")
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[RALEIGH, N.C.] \u2014 What is dark matter? What is consciousness? Where did life come from? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? A new feature-length documentary titled\u00a0\u201cThe Most Unknown,\u201d showing at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences October 11 at 7 p.m.,\u00a0explores some of the biggest questions in science, all to find out what drives discovery.\u00a0The film, called \u201ca celebration of science\u201d by\u00a0The New York Times<\/em>, features nine scientists \u2014 including Museum astronomer Rachel Smith \u2014 from multiple disciplines meeting each other for the first time in a series of encounters rooted in their work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe film is an experiment,\u201d says director Ian Cheney, \u201cone in which we posited that by tossing scientists who’d never met into a petri dish of our own design, we\u2019d learn\u00a0something<\/em>\u00a0about what it means to dedicate one\u2019s life to questions we\u2019re not yet sure we can answer. Perhaps putting aside the usual questions \u2014 What\u2019s the answer? What does this mean for me? \u2014 provides a strange new window into what propels scientists so deep into the unknown.\u201d Cheney is an Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker (\u201cThe Search for General Tso,\u201d\u00a0\u201cThe City Dark\u201d).<\/p>\n \u201cBeing part of \u2018The Most Unknown\u2019 was a unique and fantastic privilege, both as a scientist and educator who loves to share the excitement of discovery and exploration with others,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIt was great fun to share what it\u2019s like to observe forming stars with the 10-meter Keck telescope. And it was a spectacular experience to be on a dive to a methane seep off the coast of Costa Rica aboard ALVIN, where we explored a largely unknown region of the deep ocean \u2026 not so unlike what I imagine it might be to one day explore an ocean on another planet or moon.\u201d\u00a0A Q&A with Smith and producer Lindsay Blatt follows the screening.<\/p>\n The U.S. premier of the film was April 18 in Manhattan; the world premier was held on March 16 in Copenhagen, Denmark, where it was selected to open the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival\u2019s science program. The 90-minute film was produced by VICE Motherboard in association with Science Sandbox.<\/p>\n The film is free, but registration is required. Visit naturalsciences.org<\/a> or the Museum Box Office for more information or to reserve a ticket. For more information about the movie, visit themostunknown.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences<\/em><\/strong> in downtown Raleigh (11 and 121 W. Jones St.) is an active research institution that engages visitors of every age and stage of learning in the wonders of science and the natural world. Hours: Monday\u2013Saturday, 9 a.m.\u20135 p.m., and Sunday, noon\u20135 p.m. General admission is free. Emlyn Koster, PhD, Director. For more information, visit naturalsciences.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33651,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naturalsciences.org\/calendar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}