Irene Khan
Native name	আইরিন খান
Born	(1956-12-24) 24 December 1956 (age 55) Dhaka, Bangladesh
Nationality	Bangladeshi
Ethnicity	Bengali
Education	Law
Alma mater	University of Manchester, Harvard Law School
Occupation	Consulting editor
Employer	University of Salford
Title	Chancellor
Predecessor	Professor Sir Martin Harris
Religion	Islam
Children	1 daughter
Relatives	Mahbub Ali Khan (uncle)
Website
www.irenekhan.org

Irene Zubaida Khan (born 24 December 1956) is a Bangladeshi human rights activist. She was the seventh Secretary General of Amnesty International until her resignation on 31 December 2009.^[1][2] She was appointed as a member of the Charity Commission of England and Wales on 1 January 2010 but resigned after a controversy over post-retirement payoffs from Amnesty International. Khan joined The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper, as consulting editor on 15 May 2010.^[3] She is the Chancellor of the University of Salford.^[4]

On 17 November 2011 she has been elected new Director-General of the International Development Law Organization - IDLO, an intergovernmental organization based in Rome, Italy.

Early life[link]

Irene Khan grew up in a relatively wealthy family in Bangladesh. She was the star pupil at St Francis Xavier's Green Herald International School where she was the record holder at the school leaving examinations. The daughter of a non-practicing medical doctor Sikander Ali Khan, granddaughter of Cambridge graduate and barrister Ahmed Ali Khan and great granddaughter of an eminent doctor of Calcuuta who was the personal physician of Syed Hasan Imam. Her uncle Rear Admiral Mahbub Ali Khan was the chief of the Bangladesh Navy. Khan‘s great-great uncle Ghazanfar Ali Khan was the first Muslim Cambridge graduate from Sylhet. Irene’s first cousin Zubaida Rahman is married to Tarique Rahman the son of a former prime minister and a president of Bangladesh. During her upbringing, East Pakistan – now Bangladesh – was fighting for independence from Pakistan. Human rights abuses that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in which Bangladesh achieved independence, helped shape teenage Khan's activist viewpoint. She left Bangladesh as a teenager for school in Northern Ireland.^[5] Khan then went to England and studied law at the University of Manchester and then, in the United States, at Harvard Law School. She specialized in public international law and human rights She is the Chancellor of the University of Salford.^[4]

Career[link]

Human rights[link]

Khan helped to create the organisation Concern Universal in 1977, an international development and emergency relief organisation. She began her career as a human rights activist with the International Commission of Jurists in 1979.

Khan went to work at the United Nations in 1980. She spent 20 years at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In 1995 she was appointed UNHCR Chief of Mission in India, becoming the youngest UNHCR country representative at that time.

During the Kosovo crisis in 1999, Khan led the UNHCR team in the Republic of Macedonia. This led to her being appointed as Deputy Director of International Protection later that year.

Khan is featured in a 2003 TV documentary titled “Human Rights,” by French award-winning filmmaker Denis Delestrac. The film, shot in Colombia, Israel, Palestine and Pakistan, analyses how armed conflicts affect civilian communities and foster forced migration.

Amnesty International[link]

Khan at the World Economic Forum 2007

Khan joined Amnesty International in 2001 as its Secretary General.^[4] In her first year of office, she reformed Amnesty’s response to human rights crises and launched the campaign to close Guantanamo prison camp. In 2004 she initiated a global campaign to stop violence against women. In May 2009 Khan launched Amnesty's “Demand Dignity” campaign to fight human rights abuses that impoverish people and keep them poor.^[4]

Controversy[link]

In February 2011, newspaper stories ^[6][7][8] in the UK revealed that Khan had received a payment of UK £533,103 from Amnesty International following her resignation from the organisation on 31 December 2009,^[1] a fact discovered in Amnesty's records for the 2009–2010 financial year. The sum paid to her was in excess of four times her annual salary of £132,490.^[1] The deputy secretary general, Kate Gilmore – who also resigned in December 2009 – received an ex-gratia payment.^[1][9] Peter Pack, the chairman of Amnesty's international executive committee, said on 19 February 2011, “The payments to outgoing secretary general Irene Khan shown in the accounts of AI (Amnesty International) Ltd for the year ending March 31st 2010 include payments made as part of a confidential agreement between AI Ltd and Irene Khan.”^[9] and that “It is a term of this agreement that no further comment on it will be made by either party.”^[1] On 21 February Pack issued a further statement, in which he said that the payment was a “unique situation” that was “in the best interest of Amnesty’s work” and that there would be no repetition of it.^[1] He stated that "the new secretary general, with the full support of the IEC, has initiated a process to review our employment policies and procedures to ensure that such a situation does not happen again."^[1] Pack also stated that Ammesty was “fully committed to applying all the resources that we receive from our millions of supporters to the fight for human rights.”^[1] In a statement^[10] released by Pack following the media coverage of the story, Pack described the decision to award the payment to Khan as the “least worst option.”^[11] Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley, decried the payment, telling the Daily Express, “I am sure people making donations to Amnesty, in the belief they are alleviating poverty, never dreamed they were subsidizing a fat cat payout. This will disillusion many benefactors.”^[9] On 14 March 2011, Irene Khan resigned as UK Charity Commissioner, a public office taken up by Khan in early 2010 after leaving Amnesty, citing lack of time due to overseas commitments. Some had questioned Khan's appointment to the board of the charity regulator in the aftermath of the pay-off scandal. Announcing Khan’s resignation from the Charity Commission, Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, said: “Charities have a critical role to play in the Big Society and the Charity Commission, as the independent regulator has the important job of supervising the sector and preserving public confidence in charities.”^[12]

Other humanitarian initiatives[link]

In 2009 Khan was featured in the project “Soldiers of Peace,” an anti-war film.^[13][14]

Awards[link]

Khan received a Ford Foundation Fellowship in 1979 and the Pilkington “Woman of the Year” Award 2002^[2] as well as the Sydney Peace Prize 2006. In 2007 she received an honorary doctorate at the Ghent University.^[15] She received honorary doctorates from University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies), Manchester, St. Andrews, Salford and Staffordshire in UK, American University of Beirut (Lebanon), Ferris University (Japan), and State University of New York (USA). In 2008 she was one of the two persons whose name was put forward for the election of the new Chancellor of The University of Manchester.^[16] In July 2009 she was appointed as Chancellor of the University of Salford.^[4] On 29 June 29 2010 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Edinburgh.

Publications[link]

• 2009: The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights (W.W. Norton & Co.) : ISBN 0-393-33700-6, translated in French, German, Finnish, Dutch, Italian, Korean, and special South Asia edition by Viva, New Delhi.

See also[link]

• British Bangladeshi
• List of British Bangladeshis

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Irene Khan

• Official Website
• Irene Khan on Twitter
• Amnesty International - Listen to Women: Irene Khan
• Harvard Law School - Practitioners of Conscience: Irene Khan
• Listen to Irene Kahn on The Forum from the BBC World Service
• Khan, Irene. "You Cannot Import Human Rights". Qantara.de. 26 August 2009
• Irene Khan on The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights - video by Democracy Now!
• Letter from Khan's lawyers to Civil Society on her salary and severance package

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

10 Years is an American alternative metal band, formed in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1999.

History[link]

[edit] Early Years, Into the Half Moon (1999–2001)

10 Years was initially formed in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1999 with singer Mike Underdown, drummer Brian Vodinh, bassist Lewis Cosby, and guitarists Ryan "Tater" Johnson (also of The American Plague) and Matt Wantland. In 2001, Cosby left and the band recruited Andy Parks on bass. They independently recorded Into the Half Moon the same year.

[edit] Killing All That Holds You, The Autumn Effect (2002–2006)

Lead vocalist Mike Underdown left the band to pursue a career in acting and start up a new band 'Courage, You Bastards' in Los Angeles, Ca. 10 Years soon recruited current vocalist Jesse Hasek from another local band. In 2002, Parks decided to leave the band and Cosby returned. The band then released their independent album Killing All That Holds You in 2004.

10 Years was then signed to Universal Records in 2005 and released their major label debut, The Autumn Effect on August 16, 2005 with the songs "Wasteland" and "Through the Iris" picking up regional radio play. Their first single, "Wasteland" spent over 12 months on the rock charts, finally reaching #1 at active rock radio in December 2005.

That same summer, the band toured with Disturbed and Ill Niño. In the fall of 2005, they toured with Breaking Benjamin and Smile Empty Soul, then followed up with the Masters of Horror tour with Mudvayne and Sevendust. They opened for Korn and Mudvayne on Korn's See You on the Other Side tour. They also toured with Korn and Deftones on the Family Values Tour, which started in late July 2006.

In mid February 2006, "Wasteland" reached #1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. "Wasteland" has been certified Gold by the RIAA.

In mid-2006, the band toured Australia in a lineup which included Hatebreed, Disturbed and Korn.

Their first music video, "Wasteland", addresses the social problem of human rights as well as addiction around the world. The video received a nomination for Best Direction and Best Art Direction at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, but did not win either.

On March 27, 2006, an EP was released on iTunes containing acoustic versions of "Wasteland" and other tracks from The Autumn Effect.

[edit] Division (2006–2008)

On November 19, 2006, 10 Years unveiled and confirmed the title Division for their second album.^[1] The band would begin recording Division in late June 2007 after spending the better part of a year writing.

Lewis told in an interview that the album is "so different from the first one [The Autumn Effect], but it's still 10 Years," and, "It just sounds like [the songs] would be from a totally different album, which was, you know, the goal."^[2] It was also revealed that the track titled "Focus" was co-written with Stone Temple Pilots and former Army of Anyone guitarist Dean DeLeo.^[1]

On May 21, 2007 a demo song titled "All Your Lies" from Division was released onto their MySpace along with a post stating the band had chosen producer Rick Parasher to produce the new album.^[3] On September 7, the band announced on their MySpace that the album was finished and would be released in 2008, following a tour with Dir En Grey, Sevendust, Operator, Thousand Foot Krutch and Chevelle.

On January 29, 2008, "Beautiful," the new single from Division, was released to iTunes and a snippet was also posted on the band's MySpace page. Division was released on May 13, 2008 after being pushed back due to finalization of the album's artwork.^[4]

10 Years was featured on the Revolution Stage of Linkin Park's Summer Projekt Revolution 2008 tour with Atreyu, Hawthorne Heights and Armor For Sleep.

They went on tour with Mudvayne until mid December 2008.

[edit] Feeding the Wolves (2009–2011)

10 Years announced that their upcoming third major label album would be entitled Feeding the Wolves. The album was produced by Grammy-nominated producer Howard Benson and mixed by Chris "Lord" Alge. The band has mentioned the album is of their heaviest material to date and "very similar to some of their early songs."

Throughout the first half of 2010, the band went back and forth between putting on live shows and working in the studio. Before the album was released, the band debuted new songs at live performances such as "Dead in the Water", "Now is the Time", and the new album's first single ""Shoot It Out" ". ^[5][6]

On June 12, 2010, ""Shoot It Out" " was featured on Sirius/XM Radio. The track was released to radio later that month,^[7] and was made available for download on iTunes July 6.^[8] Feeding the Wolves was released on August 31, 2010.

To promote the album's release, the band opened Shinedown's 2010 Carnival of Madness summer tour alongside Chevelle, Puddle of Mudd, and Sevendust.^[9] In the fall they joined Sevendust again on the Hard Drive Live tour with support from Since October and Anew Revolution.

In December, the band went on a mini-headline tour,^[10] where they played some older songs that they had not played in some time. February 2011, their new single "Fix Me" releases to radio while they headline a spring tour with Hollywood Undead.

On June 17 and 18 the band shot a music video for "Fix Me" in Columbus, Ohio with production company Thunder Down Country.^[11] The video was released via YouTube on August 9, 2011.^[12]

[edit] Minus The Machine Palehorse Records (2012-present)

On twitter the band has shown pictures of Brian Vodinh's home basement turned studio for future workings on their next album.

On April 2nd, 2012, the band announced on Facebook that their upcoming record, Minus The Machine, is to be released on July 30th on their own independent label, Palehorse Records, which the band stated is a part of Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group. They also announced a 4-week headlining tour to support the record, which begins on June 27th in New Orleans.

On May 11th, the band unveiled the cover art of the album and it was announced that the album's release has been pushed back to July 31st.^{[citation needed]} 10 Years will release their first single "Backlash" on radio and iTunes on June 21st.

Band members[link]

Current

• Jesse Hasek – Vocals (2002–present)
• Ryan "Tater" Johnson – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals (1999–present)
• Lewis "Big Lew" Cosby – Bass (1999–2001, 2002-present)
• Brian Vodinh – Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals (2009–present) Drums (1999–present)

Live

• Matt Brown – Drums (2010-present)
• Sam Anderson – Drums (2010)
• Kyle Mayer – Drums (2010)
• Brandon Estelle - Drums (2010-2011) and select dates.

Former

• Mike Underdown – Vocals (1999–2001)
• Andy Parks - Bass (2001–2002)
• Matt Wantland – Guitar (1999–2009)

Timeline[link]

id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals
id:Bass value:orange legend:Bass
id:Rhythm_Guitar value:blue legend:Rhythm_Guitar
id:Lead_guitar value:green legend:Lead_Guitar
id:drums value:yellow legend:Drums
id:lines value:black legend:Studio Albums

at:01/01/2001 color:black layer:back
at:27/08/2004 color:black layer:back
at:16/08/2005 color:black layer:back
at:01/05/2008 color:black layer:back
at:31/08/2010 color:black layer:back

bar:mike text:"Mike Underdown"
bar:jesse text:"Jesse Hasek"
bar:tater text:"Ryan Tater Johnson"
bar:wantland text:"Matt Wantland"
bar:andy text:"Andy Parks"
bar:lewis text:"Lewis Cosby"
bar:brian text:"Brian Vodinh"
bar:kyle text:"Kyle Mayer"
bar:sam text:"Sam Anderson"
bar:matt text:"Matt Brown"

width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
bar:mike from:start till:01/01/2001 color:Vocals
bar:jesse from:02/01/2001 till:end color:Vocals
bar:tater from:start till:end color:Lead_Guitar
bar:wantland from:start till:03/05/2009 color:Rhythm_Guitar
bar:brian from:start till:31/08/2010 color:Drums
bar:brian from:05/05/2009 till:end color:Rhythm_Guitar
bar:lewis from:start till:01/01/2001 color:Bass
bar:lewis from:02/01/2002 till:end color:Bass
bar:andy from:02/01/2001 till:01/01/2002 color:Bass
bar:kyle from:06/06/2010 till:05/07/2010 color:Drums
bar:sam from:06/07/2010 till:31/07/2010 color:Drums
bar:matt from:01/08/2010 till:end color:Drums

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

• 2006: Acoustic EP

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site
• 10 Years on Myspace

Jane Velez-Mitchell
Jane at the Red Porche, Pride Parade 2010 Crescent, West Hollywood, CA, US
Born	(1955-09-29) September 29, 1955 (age 56) New York City, New York, United States
Education	NYU
Occupation	Television News Host for the HLN news network show "Issues"
Website
www.janevelezmitchell.com

Jane Velez-Mitchell (b. September 29, 1955) is an award winning television journalist and bestselling author. She currently has her own show on HLN, Jane Velez-Mitchell (replacing Glenn Beck who moved to Fox News Channel).^[1] She is often seen commenting on high-profile cases for CNN, TruTV, E! and other national cable TV shows. Velez-Mitchell frequently guest hosts for Nancy Grace on her Headline News show. Velez-Mitchell reported for the nationally syndicated Warner Brothers/Telepictures show Celebrity Justice. She also appears as a substitute host oh HLN's Showbiz Tonight.

Early life and career[link]

Born to a Puerto Rican mother^[2] and an Irish American father, Velez-Mitchell has been on the forefront of many headline news stories during the past decade. While covering a story regarding sororities on her television show Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell, she stated that she attended New York University.^[3] She was in the courtroom during the entire child sexual abuse trial against singer Michael Jackson. During the trial, Velez-Mitchell appeared daily on Nancy Grace. She was featured on CNN’s Larry King Live on several occasions, including on the evening of the verdict.

Books[link]

Velez-Mitchell authored the non-fiction book, Secrets Can Be Murder: What America’s Most Sensational Crimes Tell Us About Ourselves, which delves into the secrets unearthed in more than twenty of the most widely covered murder cases of recent times. The book's premise is that, by studying the secrecy and deceit embedded in these tragic scenarios, we can learn to opt for honesty in our own lives and avoid similar outcomes.

In September 2009, Velez-Mitchell released her memoir on addiction recovery titled iWant: My Journey from Addiction and Overconsumption to a Simpler, Honest Life.^[4]

In February 2011, Velez-Mitchell released a third book, titled Addict Nation: an Intervention for America. This book examines what Velez-Mitchell believes to be growing levels of addiction in the United States to both illegal drugs and to legal substances like the Internet, prescription drugs, and fast food.^[5]

Personal life[link]

In addition to being one of the few openly gay journalists on television, she also has dedicated her time and resources to various charitable and humane causes.^[6] She is well known for her animal rights advocacy and is a vegan and an environmentalist. In July 2009, Farm Animal Rights Movement awarded Velez-Mitchell the Celebrity Animal Activist Award at the Animal Rights 2009 National Conference held in Los Angeles, California.^[7] While working at Celebrity Justice, Velez-Mitchell’s reporting on animal cruelty earned that show two Genesis Awards from the Humane Society of the United States. She earned an additional Genesis Award for her show "Issues" in 2010. In January 2010, she was awarded the Ruby Award by Soroptimist International for her "War on Women" coverage on her television show.^[8]

She presently resides in Midtown Manhattan with her mother, Anita, who is a former vaudeville performer.^[9]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jane Velez-Mitchell

• Jane Velez-Mitchell on the Internet Movie Database
• TV Interview on The Gregory Mantell Show on YouTube
• Jane Velez-Mitchell on Dr. Phil in October 2009 talks about being a midlife lesbian

This article contains Japanese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of kanji and kana.

Michio Kaku (加来 道雄, Kaku Michio^?, born January 24, 1947) is an American theoretical physicist, the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics in the City College of New York of City University of New York, a co-founder of string field theory,^[1] a futurist, and a "communicator" and "popularizer" of science. He has written several books about physics and related topics; he has made frequent appearances on radio, television, and film; and he writes extensive online blogs and articles. He has written two New York Times best sellers, Physics of the Impossible (2008) and Physics of the Future (2011). He has hosted several TV specials for BBC-TV, the Discovery Channel, and the Science Channel.

Early life and education[link]

Kaku was born in San Jose, California to Japanese immigrant parents. His grandfather came to the United States to take part in the clean-up operation after the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake^{[citation needed]}. His father was born in California but was educated in Japan and spoke little English. Both his parents were put in the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, where they met and where his two brothers were born.

At Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, Kaku assembled an atom smasher in his parents' garage for a science fair project.^[2] At the National Science Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he attracted the attention of physicist Edward Teller, who took Kaku as a protégé, awarding him the Hertz Engineering Scholarship. Kaku graduated summa cum laude from Harvard University in 1968 and was first in his physics class. He attended the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley and received a Ph.D. in 1972, and in 1972 he held a lectureship at Princeton University.

During the Vietnam War, Kaku completed his U.S. Army basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia and his advanced individual training at Fort Lewis, Washington.^[3] However, the Vietnam War ended before he was deployed as an infantryman.

Academic career[link]

Kaku became a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton,^[4] and New York University.^[5] He currently holds the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York.^[6]

Kaku has had over 70 articles published in physics journals such as Physical Review, covering topics such as superstring theory, supergravity, supersymmetry, and hadronic physics.^[7] In 1974, along with Prof. Keiji Kikkawa of Osaka University, he authored the first papers describing string theory in a field form.^[8][9]

Kaku is the author of several textbooks on string theory and quantum field theory.

Popular science[link]

Kaku is most widely known as a popularizer of science.^[10] He has written books and appeared on many television programs as well as film. He also hosts a weekly radio program.

Books[link]

Kaku is the author of various popular science books.

• Hyperspace (1994)
• Beyond Einstein (with Jennifer Thompson) (1995)
• Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century^[11] (1998)
• Einstein's Cosmos (2004)
• Parallel Worlds (2004)
• Physics of the Impossible (2008)
• Physics of the Future (2011)

Hyperspace was a best-seller and was voted one of the best science books of the year by both The New York Times^[10] and The Washington Post. Parallel Worlds was a finalist for the Samuel Johnson Prize for non-fiction in the UK.^[12]

Radio[link]

Kaku is the host of the weekly, one-hour radio program Explorations, produced by the Pacifica Foundation's WBAI in New York. "Explorations" is syndicated to community and independent radio stations and makes previous broadcasts available on the program's website. Kaku defines the show as dealing with the general topics of science, war, peace, and the environment.

In April 2006, Kaku began broadcasting Science Fantastic on 90 commercial radio stations, the only nationally syndicated science program on commercial radio in the United States. It is syndicated by Talk Radio Network and now reaches 130 radio stations and America's Talk on XM. The program is formatted as a live listener call-in show, focusing on "futurology," which he defines as the future of science.^{[citation needed]} Featured guests include Nobel laureates and top researchers on the topics of string theory, time travel, black holes, gene therapy, aging, space travel, artificial intelligence, and SETI. When Kaku is busy filming for television, Science Fantastic goes on hiatus, sometimes for several months. Kaku is also a frequent guest on many programs, where he is outspoken in all areas and issues he considers of importance, such as the program Coast to Coast AM, where on 30 November 2007, he reaffirmed his belief that there is a 100% probability of extraterrestrial life in the universe.^[13]

Kaku has appeared on The Opie and Anthony Show a number of times, discussing popular fiction such as Back to The Future, Lost, and the theories behind time-travel that these and other fictional entertainment focus on.

Television and film[link]

Kaku has appeared in many forms of media and on many programs and networks, including Good Morning America, The Screen Savers, Larry King Live, 60 Minutes, Nightline, 20/20, Naked Science, CNN, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, Al Jazeera English, Fox News Channel, The History Channel, Conan, The Science Channel, The Discovery Channel, TLC, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Colbert Report, The Art Bell Show and its successor, Coast To Coast AM, BBC World News America, The Opie & Anthony Show, The Covino & Rich Show, Head Rush, The Late Show with David Letterman, and Real Time with Bill Maher.

In 1999, Kaku was one of the scientists profiled in the feature-length film Me and Isaac Newton, directed by Michael Apted. It played theatrically in the United States, was later broadcast on national TV, and won several film awards.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Kaku appeared in the short documentary Obsessed & Scientific. The film is about the possibility of time travel and the people who dream about it. It screened at the Montreal World Film Festival and a feature film expansion is in development talks. Kaku also appeared in the ABC documentary UFOs: Seeing Is Believing, in which he suggested that while he believes it is extremely unlikely that extraterrestrials have ever actually visited Earth, we must keep our minds open to the possible existence of civilizations a million years ahead of us in technology, where entirely new avenues of physics open up. He also discussed the future of interstellar exploration and alien life in the Discovery Channel special Alien Planet as one of the multiple speakers who co-hosted the show, and Einstein's Theory of Relativity on The History Channel.

In February 2006, Kaku appeared as presenter in the BBC-TV four-part documentary Time which seeks to explore the mysterious nature of time. Part one of the series concerns personal time, and how we perceive and measure the passing of time. The second in the series deals with cheating time, exploring possibilities of extending the lifespan of organisms. The geological time covered in part three explores the ages of the earth and the sun. Part four covers the topics of cosmological time, the beginning of time and the events that occurred at the instant of the big bang.

On January 28, 2007, Kaku hosted the Discovery Channel series 2057. This three-hour program discussed how medicine, the city, and energy could change over the next 50 years.

In 2008, Kaku hosted the three-hour BBC-TV documentary Visions of the Future, on the future of computers, medicine, and quantum physics, and he appeared in several episodes of the History Channel's Universe series.

On December 1, 2009, he began hosting a 12-episode weekly TV series for the Science Channel at 10 pm, called Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible, based on his best-selling book. Each 30-minute episode discusses the scientific basis behind imaginative schemes, such as time travel, parallel universes, warp drive, star ships, light sabers, force fields, teleportation, invisibility, death stars, and even superpowers and flying saucers. Each episode includes interviews with the world's top scientists working on prototypes of these technologies, interviews with science fiction fans, clips from science fiction movies, and special effects and computer graphics. Although these inventions are impossible today, the series discusses when these technologies might become feasible in the future.^[14]

In 2010, he began to appear in a series on the website Gametrailers.com called Science of Games, discussing the scientific aspects of various popular video games such as Mass Effect 2 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Kaku is popular in mainstream media because of his knowledge and his accessible approach to presenting complex subjects in science. While his technical writings are confined to theoretical physics, his public speaking and media appearances cover a broad range of topics, from the Kardashev scale to more esoteric subjects such as wormholes and time travel. In January 2007, Kaku visited Oman. While there, he talked at length to select members of that country's decision makers. In an interview with local media, Dr Kaku elaborated on his vision of mankind's future. Kaku considers climate change and terrorism as serious threats in man's evolution from a Type 0 civilization to Type 1.^[15]

He is pictured in Symphony of Science's newest song (as of September 6, 2011), 'The Quantum World.'

On October 11, 2010, Michio Kaku appeared in the BBC program "What Happened Before the Big Bang" (along with Laura Mersini-Houghton, Andrei Linde, Roger Penrose, Lee Smolin, Neil Turok, and other notable cosmologists and physicists), where he propounded his theory of the universe created out of nothing.^[16]

Social policy advocacy[link]

Kaku has publicly stated his concerns over matters including the anthropogenic cause of global warming, nuclear armament, nuclear power and the general misuse of science.^[17] He was critical of the Cassini–Huygens space probe because of the 72 pounds (33 kg) of plutonium contained in the craft for use by its radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Conscious of the possibility of casualties if the probe's fuel were dispersed into the environment during a malfunction and crash as the probe was making a 'sling-shot' maneuver around earth, Kaku publicly criticized NASA's risk assessment.^[18] He has also spoken on the dangers of space junk and called for more and better monitoring. Kaku is generally a vigorous supporter of the exploration of outer space, believing that the ultimate destiny of the human race may lie in extrasolar planets; but he is critical of some of the cost-ineffective missions and methods of NASA.

Kaku credits his anti-nuclear war position to programs he heard on the Pacifica Radio network, during his student years in California. It was during this period that he made the decision to turn away from a career developing the next generation of nuclear weapons in association with Edward Teller and focused on research, teaching, writing and media.^{[citation needed]} Kaku joined with others such as Helen Caldicott, Jonathan Schell, Peace Action and was instrumental in building a global anti-nuclear weapons movement that arose in the 1980s, during the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Kaku was a board member of Peace Action and on the board of radio station WBAI-FM in New York City where he originated his long running program, Explorations, that focused on the issues of science, war, peace and the environment.

His remark from an interview in support of SETI, "We could be in the middle of an intergalactic conversation...and we wouldn't even know.", is used in the third Symphony of Science installment "Our Place in the Cosmos".

Personal life[link]

Kaku is married to Shizue Kaku and has two daughters.^[19]

Bibliography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Michio Kaku

Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision of the "Michio Kaku" article dated 2007-07-08, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

• Official website
• Michio Kaku on Twitter
• Getting Physical: Dr. Michio Kaku Explains Einstein's Genius
• Russia Takes Aim at Asteroids, op-ed on asteroid defense, Wall St. Journal, Jan. 5, 2010
• The Skeptics' Guide To The Universe interview
• Michio Kaku at the Internet Movie Database
• Michio Kaku on National Public Radio
• About Michio Kaku
• Video: Michio Kaku discusses Physics of the Future on March 23, 2011, on Forum Network.
• In Depth interview with Kaku, October 3, 2010