"In the beginning," "There was darkness." "And then, bang..." "Giving birth to an endless" "Expanding existence" "Of time, space, and matter." "Every day," "New discoveries are unlocking" "The mysterious," "The mind-blowing," "The deadly secrets" "Of a place we call" ""the universe."" "Warp speed," "Transporters," "Wormholes," "And laser blasters..." "Science fiction concepts." "But are they grounded" "In reality?" "Is there life out there?" "The answer is yes." "Now, the next generation" "Of physicists work" "To rewrite the cosmic rule book." "I can't necessarily" "Limit myself by the physics" "We know today." "And what seemed futuristic" "Just decades ago" "May be coming soon" "To a planet near you." "Someone traveling close" "To the speed of light" "Can effectively jump" "Into the future." "Next stop:" "Tomorrow..." "Arriving today," "As we explore the worlds" "Of science fiction" "And science fact." "The Universe - 4x11 November 3, 2009" "Science fiction" "Explores new life," "New civilizations," "And galaxies far, far away." "The fantastic future" "Of flying cars and laser beams" "Still seems like" "A shimmering mirage" "Of a tomorrow that never came." "Roads?" "Where we're going," "I think we'll still need" "Some roads." "But then there are" "Those Sci-Fi technologies" "Which may be arriving" "Sooner than you think." "Running late for an appointment?" "Stuck in traffic?" "Science fiction has the answer" "For your transportation" "Problems:" "Simply beam from point "a"..." "To point "b"." "thestartrektransporter" "Is one of those things" "That any of us" "Who do a lot of flying" "Really wish would just" "Please be invented." "But then when you start thinking" "About the technologies required," "It becomes a bit daunting." "onstartrek," "As we've depicted it" "On the show," "The transporter works by" "Taking a person apart" "Atom by atom," "Converting those atoms" "Into a stream of energy," "Beaming that energy" "To the target location," "And then reassembling" "All of those atoms" "That make up the person" "At the target location." "asthey're" "Scanning the person," "They're recording the positions" "Of all the atoms," "Of all the electrons" "Orbiting the atoms," "Of the spins" "Of all of the electrons," "The wave functions" "Of all of the molecular" "Structures in the body," "How everything's vibrating," "Moving, the velocities." "The amount of data is enormous" "And somehow they're scanning" "All of it remotely," "And then they're somehow" "Taking and tearing" "That body apart." "theamountof energyrequired" "To turn a human into pure energy" "Would be far more" "Than in the most powerful" "Nuclear weapons" "That humans have ever made." "The process itself" "Would be destructive." "toconvertsomeonemysize" "Entirely to energy" "Would be the equivalent 41 times the energy release" "Of the largest nuclear weapon" "Ever exploded on planet earth." "I mean, if you tried" "To transport me right now," "You have to ask yourself... butwhatcomesout" "The other side" "Of a transporter beam?" "Is it you" "Or a perfect quantum replica" "Of you?" "aretheydisassembling" "The person" "And reassembling them," "Or are they" "Disassembling the person," "Storing the information," "And recreating the person" "From scratch?" "it'saninterestingquestion." "Does the transporter" "Actually kill you" "And then create a clone," "Or does it somehow preserve you" "And transport you" "To another place?" "ifyou'regonnasay" "That you're disassembled" "Atom by atom," "Converted into an energy stream," "And then reassembled" "Someplace else," "I don't see how that's anything" "Other than killing you" "And resurrecting you." "itmaybe adevice" "Rooted in science fiction," "But the real-world prospects" "For transporter technology" "Attracted the attention" "Of the U.S. Military." "The air force" "Commissioned a study" "To investigate the future" "Of matter transmission systems," "And, not surprisingly," "Found a number of roadblocks." "developing" "A working transporter is..." "Is a tough nut." "amongthebiggest..." "A problem" "You may have struggled with" "On your home computer:" "Not enough hard drive space." "Forget megabytes or gigabytes," "The information created" "By a scan of just one person" "Would generate" "Billions of terabytes." "onepersonwouldtake" "Roughly enough terabyte" "Drives' worth of storage" "To fill 500 million" "Empire state buildings." "andtheimplication" "Of storing a person as data is," "Do you have to teleport them" "Immediately?" "What if you dematerialize them," "Store the information," "And save it for 50 years, 100 years, 5,000 years?" "From the point of view" "Of that person," "It becomes time travel." "ifharddrivecapacities" "Continue to improve" "At their present rate," "A drive capable of handling" "The storage requirements" "May exist..." "In about 200 to 300 years." "A final barrier" "To creating a matter transporter" "Is a fundamental property" "Of quantum physics" "Known as Heisenberg's" "Uncertainty principle." "aftertheoriginal" "Star trek premiered," "A lot of physicists questioned" "The transporter technology," "And one of the biggest problems" "With it that they talked about" "Was that it's really not" "Possible to know" "With complete precision" "Both the location" "And the momentum of an atom" "Or a subatomic particle." "In other words," "The more you know" "Where something is," "The less you know" "How fast it's going" "And vice versa." "Take a picture" "Of the merry-go-round." "Well, you can certainly see" "Where that merry-go-round is" "With respect to anything else" "That's nearby," "But the things that are spinning" "On the merry-go-round" "Are kind of blurred." "If you're trying" "To reassemble" "The bits and pieces" "That make up a quantum image" "Of a just-dematerialized" "The last thing you want" "Is Heisenberg's" "Quantum uncertainty." "instartrek:" "The next generation," "One of our technical advisors," "Mike Okuda," "Came up with the idea" "Of this thing called" "The Heisenberg compensator," "Which is the component" "In the transporter" "That conveniently deals" "With that little problem." "And I always thought" "That was a very clever" "Solution to..." "To one of the biggest obstacles" "In building a transporter." "The transporter would," "On occasion, break down" "And that was generally" "Not good for the person" "Being transported." "ifsomedatawerelost" "During transport" "And you ended up without eyes" "Or a brain or something," "That would obviously" "Be disastrous." "youmightloseabit" "From your DNA," "And while your body" "Has DNA repair mechanisms," "That repeated numerous times" "Could lead to cancers," "It could lead to deformities," "It could lead" "To all sorts of maladies" "That you really probably" "Wouldn't wanna deal with." "massively" "Huge supercomputers," "Heisenberg compensators," "Quantum scanning..." "All part of science fiction." "So how do we make it" "Science fact?" "By getting a little spooky." "Einstein famously called it" ""spooky action at a distance."" "It's the bizarre world" "Of quantum entanglement." "basically,twoparticles" "Can interact in such a way" "That when they become separated," "The state of one" "Directly affects the state" "Of the other." "And using this property" "Of entanglement," "You can manipulate" "One location to change" "What's going on" "In the other location" "Instantaneously." "thisisabout" "The single freakiest thing" "To come out" "Of quantum mechanics." "There's no way" "For the information to travel" "From the one particle" "To the other." "You can separate them by so much" "That even the speed of light" "Doesn't allow the information" "To get from one point" "To the other" "When you make the measurement." "There's probably three people" "On the entire planet" "That fully understand" "This concept," "And the rest of us" "Just look at the mathematics" "And get queasy." "plansarein theworks" "To test the spooky action" "Of entanglement" "By transmitting information" "Between the ground" "And low earth orbit," "The first "beaming up"" "In human history." "This technology" "Could be put to use" "In the development" "Of a new generation" "Of supercomputers," "Computers that may one day" "Be fast enough to carry out" "The complex calculations needed" "For a more sophisticated" "Transporter." "Iwoulduseatransporter" "In an instant" "If I were assured" "That I could return home" "To my loved ones" "When I so desired." "I think it would be" "A fantastic trip." "inj.J.Abrams'reboot" "Of the star trek franchise," "The villain used" "A science fiction staple" "In a whole new way," "Using a black hole as a weapon." "I love" "The new star trek movie." "I love the direction" "They've gone in," "But the black hole just broke" "The part of my brain" "That likes physics." "Black holes are regions" "In space where matter" "Has been compressed so much" "That the local gravity" "Is so strong that nothing," "Not even light, can escape." "If you could" "Drop a black hole" "Into the core of a planet..." "Gone." "It would implode." "Controlling a black hole" "Is nigh-impossible because" "If you try to manipulate it" "You would also implode." "inthestartrekfilm ," "Some exotic form of matter" "That they called red matter" "Was used to initiate" "The formation of a black hole" "Inside the core" "Of an existing planet." "You aren't generally" "Going to collapse a planet" "Into a black hole" "Using any amount of red slime." "It's just not gonna happen." "Of course, in science fact," "We recently had our own concerns" "About black holes" "And the possibility" "That in a quest for knowledge," "Our planet could be obliterated," "Sucked into the insatiable maw" "Of a black hole" "We created." "In science fiction," "Such as j.J. Abrams'" "First star trek movie," "A black hole created" "At the center of a planet" "Caused the on-screen deaths" "Of 6 billion vulcans." "That planet would become" "Part of the mass" "Of the black hole." "It would be ripped to shreds" "And disappear" "From our universe forever." "So it is kind of" "The ultimate doomsday weapon." "In science fact, plans" "To smash subatomic particles" "Together here on earth" "Raised fears" "That if the particles" "Were going fast enough" "When they collided," "They could form a black hole," "Destroying our planet." "The new facility" "That's been built" "By CERN in Switzerland," "The large hadron clider," "Is designed to explore" "The fundamental nature" "Of matter," "To smash atoms together" "So that you can break them apart" "And see what the fundamental" "Building blocks are." "For example, they wanna find" "The so-called higgs boson," "Which is thought to give mass" "To all other particles," "But they also might produce" "Miniature black holes." "Black holes on earth?" "Humans tend to view black holes" "As large swirling," "Matter-sucking vortexes" "From which nothing," "Not even light, can escape." "The idea of one forming" "In Switzerland" "Set off alarm bells." "But scientists assured" "A nervous public" "Any black holes formed" "Would be microscopic." "Tiny little black holes" "Would instantaneously evaporate," "Yet nevertheless would exist" "For a very, very short time." "Probability of that happening" "Is small," "And even if we did create" "A microscopic black hole," "It's not something" "That would sink" "To the center of the earth" "And start devouring our planet" "From the inside out." "How does a black hole grow?" "Think of a paper stick" "Going round and round" "On the inside" "Of a cotton candy machine." "As the stick gathers material" "It grows bigger and bigger," "Just as a black hole does" "When it sucks in matter." "But a microscopic black hole?" "The first thing that happens is" "It eats the stick" "Very, very slowly." "In fact," "In the course of a year," "A hungry, angry little" "Microscopic black hole" "Might eat a hundred protons." "And with the stick" "Going away," "With the vortex evaporating" "Faster than it can suck in" "New material to grow," "The microscopic black hole" "Simply disappears." "Black holes aren't something" "That we need to worry about." "In fact, there's" "A super massive black hole" "Sitting right in the center" "Of our own milky way galaxy," "Minding its own business," "With stars happily orbiting it" "Round after round after round." "You can actually see" "Around the black holes" "In some of the nearby galaxies," "Discs of material" "Getting destroyed" "As it spirals in" "And it gets so hot and so dense" "As it spirals in" "That it gives off" "Massive amounts of light." "If Sci-Fi writers" "Want to make use of black holes" "As the bad guy," "There is a scientifically" "Accurate way to do so." "One of the interesting" "Plot devices" "That isn't used enough" "In my opinion" "Is the black hole as" "Destructor of the solar system." "There could be" "Some small black hole out there" "On a collision course" "With our solar system," "And we wouldn't see it" "Until it started to interact" "With the Oort cloud," "The cloud of frozen stuff" "That comets come from" "In the outer solar system." "It could just be" "On a collision course" "Waiting to destroy" "Our entire solar system," "Invisible until a few years away" "From the earth's doom." "The first thing" "We'd probably notice" "Is the Oort cloud" "Starting to flicker" "With high-energy particles" "As little bits of ice" "Start to get sucked in." "Then we'd start to notice" "The outer solar system's orbits" "Getting deformed." "And then the amount" "Of deformation of orbits" "Would increase" "As our own planet earth," "Depending on" "Which side of the sun" "The black hole" "Was coming in from," "Either started to get" "Pulled toward the sun" "Or pulled out from the sun" "Causing us to die" "Either by fire or ice," "And I personally don't think" "Either is nice." "The destruction of the earth" "Is a popular theme" "In science fiction," "With threats" "To the planet's existence" "Coming in many forms." "Take the movie Armageddon." "An asteroid the size of Texas" "Is bearing down on our planet." "In this disaster movie," "It's the science" "Which is the real disaster." "Ithinkanyscientist" "Will agree that," ""Armageddon, oh, my gosh."" "Um, science fiction" "In name only..." "Lot of fiction," "Not a lot of science." "The way they depicted" "This asteroid" "That was going to" "Impact the earth" "And how they dealt" "With that threat" "By sending up a space shuttle" "And using nuclear devices was..." "Was ridiculous." "The problem with that is now" "Instead of having one asteroid" "That's going to destroy" "One part of the planet," "You have thousands" "And maybe millions" "Of chunks of asteroid" "That are going to destroy" "Large parts of the planet." "Yeah, blowing up asteroids..." "Really, really bad." "You want to move them somehow," "Not blow them up." "But if earth" "Bites the big one," "We'll need a new place to live." "The idea of terraforming is," "You take a world like mars" "That isn't currently capable" "Of supporting life" "Just walking around" "On its surface," "And you alter the environment," "You alter the planet itself" "In a way that allows human life" "To exist casually" "On the surface." "Make mars into a place" "Where we can breathe" "Without a spacesuit," "Where we can stand outside" "In our comfortable" "Summer clothes," "And create a whole new world" "For us to live on." "This would be a pretty" "Phenomenal thing to do," "But, they think," "Not impossible." "A new planet" "In our solar system" "For humans to call home," "Just in case the earth" "Gets all used up." "If our survival as a species" "Depended on it," "Just what would it take" "To turn the red planet blue?" "Mars is a red," "Barren, desolate world." "Freezing plains" "And sheer cliffs," "A permafrost layer" "Embedded in the surface," "Massive volcanoes" "And dry river beds" "That hint at the planet's" "Watery past." "Because mars is" "So similar to earth," "The idea of terraforming mars" "Has come up in science fiction" "For decades." "But to make mars live" "And breathe again," "This frozen wasteland" "Will have to undergo" "A massive global warming." "A key ingredient" "For terraforming mars is to get" "All the solid carbon dioxide," "The dry ice, out of mars' soil" "And into the atmosphere." "That would create" "Higher pressures." "It would also produce" "Some greenhouse warming," "Raising temperatures." "That would go a long way" "Toward making it" "More sustainable for life." "One of the polar caps of mars" "Is comprised mostly" "Of frozen carbon dioxide." "If we could somehow heat up" "That polar cap" "And release that carbon dioxide" "And put it back" "Into the atmosphere," "Then you would start a process" "Of thickening" "The atmosphere of mars." "That would be the first step" "Toward terraforming it." "One way would be" "To put up a bunch of satellites" "That would collect" "The sun's energy" "And focus them in on mars." "That would basically" "Be absorbed by the surface," "It would go" "Into evaporating those ices," "Would free them up" "So that they form" "Atmospheric gases." "One could also put" "A bunch of dark material" "On the frozen" "Polar ice caps of mars." "That dark material would absorb" "Rather than reflect" "More of the sun's radiation," "Thus allowing that material" "And the ices underneath" "To heat up" "And evaporate those ices." "When terraforming mars" "For human habitation," "There's one key ingredient" "You can't overlook." "Earth has a fairly strong" "Magnetic field." "That magnetic field protects us" "From solar wind." "Charged particles" "Streaming out from the sun" "Are shunted around earth" "By earth's magnetic field." "Mars doesn't have that." "Anybody who tried to live" "On the surface" "Would have their body," "Their mass," "Constantly impinged upon" "By radiation from the sun." "Taking a vacation trip" "To mars is still" "Science fiction." "But mankind continues" "To draw closer to the day" "When ships from earth" "Will zip around" "Our solar system." "It's relatively easy" "To get around" "Within our own solar system." "40 years ago," "We traveled to the moon." "We've sent spacecraft" "To all of the other planets" "In our solar system." "The distances are measured" "In millions or billions" "Of miles." "That's local space travel." "Interstellar travel" "Is something much different." "One of the very real problems" "That physics gives us" "Is the limitation" "Of the speed of light." "When it comes" "To faster-than-light travel," "Traditionally physicists" "Have been speaking" "With one voice," ""no way." "So say we all."" "but why is the speed of light" "A universal speed limit?" "That's what one of our viewers" "Wanted to..." "So they wrote to us" "On our website:" "Well, a lot of people" "Ask me that question." "It's a favorite." "You just can't get" "From here to there at a speed" "Faster than that of light" "Unless you're massless." "One of the problems" "We have to figure out" "How to deal with is," "As we go faster," "Essentially our mass increases," "And it takes more" "And more energy" "To increase our velocity." "Only light," "Photons with no mass," "Can go at the speed of light," "But anything that has mass" "Would require" "An infinite amount of energy" "To get going that fast." "It can't be done," "It's impossible." "In science fiction," "This isn't a problem." "Just invent some handy bit" "Of futuristic tech" "To deal with it." "What are" "Dilithium crystals for?" "What aren't they for?" "Dilithium crystals" "Make the warp engine go." "That's all we need" "To say about it." "There are various names" "That have been given" "To these kinds of technologies:" "Hyperdrive," "Superluminal drive," "Stargates." "More and more," "Scientists who've grown up" "Watching their heroes" "Whiz around the galaxy" "Seem unwilling to flatly dismiss" "The possibility" "Of faster-than-light travel." "A scientist named" "Miguel Alcubierre came up" "With a theoretical notion" "For a warp drive" "That would involve" "Expanding space" "Behind your starship" "And contracting it" "In front of your starship." "And there was nothing" "In physics," "In Einstein's theory" "Or anybody else's," "That says that space itself" "Cannot stretch or be squeezed" "Faster than the speed of light." "In fact, we think" "That's exactly what happened" "When the universe was born." "Space expanded much, much faster" "Than the speed of light" "In the microseconds" "After the big bang," "Leading to the universe" "That we see around us today." "So, if you had enough energy," "You could conceivably" "Expand space behind you" "At a hundred times" "The speed of light," "Squeeze space in front of you" "At a hundred times" "The speed of light," "And in effect be traveling" "At a hundred times" "The speed of light," "Even though in your own" "Little bubble of space," "You're never traveling faster" "Than the speed of light." "When a real-life astronaut" "Wants to get somewhere" "In a hurry," "The options are rather limited." "Most spacecraft today use" "Liquid fuel and solid fuel." "The space shuttle uses" "Solid fuel boosters" "That are kinda like" "A big bottle rocket." "Once you light 'em off," "They're going." "On the other hand," "You also have chemical rockets." "A very simple type" "Would be liquid hydrogen" "And liquid oxygen." "You just run them together..." "Huge amount of energy..." "The byproduct's water" "And a whole lot of heat." "Now, the latest generation" "Of deep-space probes" "Relies on entirely" "New technology," "Lifted straight from the pages" "Of classic Sci-Fi stories:" "Ion drives." "This is where" "You basically take atoms," "Strip off a few electrons," "And you end up" "With a charged particle," "Accelerate it" "With a magnetic field," "And send these" "High-velocity particles out" "One end of the spacecraft." "The difference between that" "And chemical engines" "Is that with an ion engine" "You have very, very low thrust." "An ion engine generates" "The same amount of thrust" "As the weight" "Of this piece of paper," "But it does so" "For months at a time." "And with constant," "Albeit small acceleration" "For months, you can get" "Up to some pretty high speeds." "NASA'sdawnspacecraft" "Is using ion power" "To close in on an encounter" "With Vesta and Ceres," "Two of the largest objects" "In our solar system's" "Asteroid belt." "One of the things" "That makes ion drives" "So powerful is" "They have the most effective" "Use of fuel, and in space" "There's no friction," "There's nothing" "To slow you down." "And so all the energy used" "To accelerate these ions" "Can go into forward velocity," "And you can just keep," "Over huge periods of time," "Accelerating and accelerating" "And accelerating." "Traditional chemical rockets" "Burn fast, loud, and hot." "Ion propulsion systems," "On the other hand," "Are in it for the long haul." "So ion drives" "Are both science fiction" "And, today, science fact." "Between space probes" "Headed out of our solar system" "And TV and radio waves," "Which have already left," "Humans have announced" "Their presence to the universe." "We have sent out missions" "With records containing" "The sounds of laughter" "And the beating of the heart," "With anatomical diagrams" "Of men and women." "These are physical ambassadors" "That we've sent out" "Among the stars." "Carl Sagan asked the question" "Many years ago," ""who speaks for earth?"" "Well, ultimately, I guess" "We all speak for earth," "And I wish we'd been" "A little more circumspect" "Or a little more thoughtful" "About the kinds of messages" "And ideas we're sending out" "Into space with our radio" "And television programs." "So far, our broadcasts" "Have gone unanswered." "But what if that changes?" "Science fiction is filled" "With tales of what happens" "When aliens arrive among us." "I think we're going to find" "Life out there." "Definitely." "And if that happens," "Do we stand any chance?" "Or are we destined" "To be wiped from existence," "Exterminated by" "An advanced alien intellect?" "They say they come in peace." "They leave our planet in pieces." "Since the earliest" "Science fiction stories," "Some themes have recurred" "With remarkable frequency," "Perhaps none so much" "As this one:" "Alien invasions." "Alien hordes arriving" "At the earth and wreaking havoc," "Just from" "A dramatic point of view," "That's inherently" "More interesting than" "Friendly aliens coming" "And solving" "All of our problems for us." "Things started with h.G. Wells" "In the war of the worlds," "And he wrote that novel" "As a kind of criticism" "Of British colonialism" "At the time." "themoviedistrict9" "Takes a look at how humanity" "Is inherently suspicious" "And inherently, in many ways," "Racist against the things" "That we don't understand," "And aliens, well," "What do we not understand" "As much as we don't understand" "Life on other worlds?" "astronomershavelongbeen" "Trying to determine" "If there's a plausible," "Scientific way to answer" "The age-old question:" "Are we alone?" "How common is intelligent life" "In the universe?" "The Fermi paradox," "Named for a question first posed" "By physicist Enrico Fermi," "Attempts to illuminate" "A conundrum" "About extraterrestrial life." "ifintelligentlife" "In the universe is common," "Then where are they?" "Well, if they're not here," "They're probably not anywhere." "So I think either we're unique," "Which is in and of itself" "Kind of astonishing," "Or intelligent life like us" "Is just not that common." "well,thequestion" "Can be reversed." "Why haven't they detected us?" "And we understand that" "Fairly well." "What would broadcast" "Our existence" "To the rest of the universe" "Is our radio emissions." "And we've really" "Been broadcasting" "In any reasonable amount" "Since about the 1920s." "So that means" "That our emissions," "Which radiate outwards" "At the speed of light," "Have reached about 90 light-years." "So we have a sphere" "Of 90 light-years of radius" "Of planets and stars," "Civilizations" "That could detect us." "That's not very big." "Our galaxy" "Is 100,000 light-years" "From end to end." "So if there were hundreds," "Thousands of civilizations" "Out there," "It might be that only one or two" "Have been able to detect us" "In the time" "We've been broadcasting." "And they may not have had time" "To send a hello message back." "anotherpossibleproblem:" "Loss of signal." "As radio waves spread out" "From earth," "They fall off in intensity," "Eventually blending in" "To the cosmic background." "If someone on another planet" "Is going to hear" "Our transmissions," "They might have to be" "Relatively close." "So how many civilizations" "Might be tuning in" "To our radio shows and reruns?" "That's a question" "Astronomer Frank drake" "Famously tried to answer." "around50yearsago ," "Frank drake, a radio astronomer," "Was considering the possibility" "For life in the universe" "And he launched" "The first seti program," "The first attempt" "To use a radio telescope" "To listen for signals" "From other stars." "So drake was wondering," "Well, what are my chances" "Of success here?" "How many civilizations" "Might there be in our galaxy?" "So, like any good astronomer," "He did a little" "Back-of-the-envelope" "Calculation," "And he created an equation" "That basically said:" "All right, here's how" "We calculate the number" "Of civilizations in our galaxy:" "How many stars are there" "In our galaxy that are capable" "Of having planets" "That are like the earth?" "How many of those stars" "Do have planets like earth?" "On how many of those" "Earth-like planets" "Did life actually develop?" "And so on." "ifyou'rean optimist," "You find that there are" "Lots and lots of intelligent," "Communicating civilizations" "In our milky way galaxy." "If you're a pessimist, however," "You can easily find" "That only one in a million" "Galaxies like ours" "Might have intelligence." "So, if you're a pessimist," "We may well be the only ones" "In our milky way galaxy." "ifa massive" "And malevolent alien force" "Heads our way," "What is earth's best defense?" "oneofthethings" "That saves us" "Is space travel is slow." "We'll have warning" "That they're cing." "We'll see them with probably" "Many days warning" "As they pass" "Through the solar system" "Looking like another" "Giant asteroid or comet" "Coming in" "From the outer solar system." "As they get here," "The question is," "What do they do?" "Are they really" "The independence day aliens" "That come in" "And sit over our major cities" "And threaten all life" "As we know it?" "Or do they simply land" "And offer us their books" "And their medicine?" "If it becomes a street fight," "Perhaps earth will be saved" "Using weapons" "Inspired by science fiction." "From Luke Skywalker's" "Elegant lightsaber" "To the laser guns used" "In a thousand Saturday matinees," "There's no shortage" "Of hand-held weapons in Sci-Fi." "Weaponry in science fiction" "For years has had" "Some sort of stun setting." "The phasers in star trek," "The staple guns in space 1999," "Will render" "Somebody unconscious," "But not kill them." "Technology today" "Is getting better" "At that sort of thing." "inspiredbysciencefiction," "Weapons researchers" "Continue to develop" "A variety of ways" "To affect someone's behavior" "Without blowing a hole" "Through them" "Using a crude projectile." "theU.S.Military" "Have developed" "The active denial system," "A system designed to elicit" "The goodbye effect." "What this is," "Is a huge microwave transmitter." "You shoot this" "To disperse crowds." "People literally feel like" "Their skin's on fire" "And they say goodbye." "othermilitaryprojects" "Harness the power" "Of electricity," "Building on taser technology" "To deliver a nonlethal jolt." "aah!" "asimplephenomenon" "Such as electricity," "Of course, is science fact," "One that has sparked many ideas" "In science fiction," "Including providing the power" "For one of the most famous" "Time machines ever built." "Have your 1.21 jigowatts" "Standing by," "Fire up the flux capacitor," "And get ready to take a trip" "Back in time." "Time travel." "It is possible," "According to two" "Of the 20th century's" "Greatest scientific minds:" "Albert Einstein," "Whose famous equations" "Did nothing to preclude" "The possibility of time travel," "And Dr. Emmett brown," "Inventor of the flux capacitor." "The big difference?" "Einstein's time machine" "Only goes in one direction" "And is supported by mounds" "Of scientific evidence." "We know" "From special relativity" "And general relativity" "That time travel" "Is absolutely possible..." "Time travel to the future." "If you traveled to a nearby star" "At a sizeable fraction" "Of the speed of light" "And came back, you would find" "That people on earth have aged" "A lot more than you have." "Relativity actually allows" "Time travel forward." "Buck Rogers in the 25th century" "Got it right," "Andromeda got it right." "Doc brown's time machine" "Goes both forward" "And backward in time," "And according to" "The laws of physics," "That's a no-no." "Or is it?" "Traveling into the past" "Doesn't seem to violate" "Any fundamental laws of physics." "And, in fact," "There are some schemes" "That physicists" "Have talked about" "That seem to provide" "An opportunity to travel" "Into the past." "Traveling in a certain way" "Around a black hole" "Might do it." "Wormholes could conceivably" "Be converted into time machines." "If you take one end" "Of a wormhole, accelerate it" "To close to the speed of light," "Send it out" "Many hundreds of light-years" "And bring it back" "To close to where you started." "Well, that end of the wormhole" "Exists permanently in the past" "Of the other end." "So, presumably, by flying" "Through the wormhole," "You can travel into the past." "Sounds simple," "But scientists say" "There's no known way" "To stabilize the energy field" "That would make up" "Such a wormhole." "And another problem:" "Travel to the past..." "And you risk causing a paradox." "The grandfather paradox" "In time travel" "Is that you go back in time" "And kill your grandfather" "Before your mother" "Or father was born," "And this then means" "That you couldn't have possibly" "Come into existence." "But then how could" "You have gone back in time" "And killed your grandfather?" "It's a logical paradox." "Other people have said," "Well, you know, maybe there's" "A way around this problem." "There is a way of looking" "At quantum mechanics called" "The many worlds interpretation" "Of quantum mechanics." "One of the many" "Interpretations" "Of quantum mechanics says that," "Every time a decision is made," "The universe splits." "Every time I send" "A photon of light through a slit" "And it goes in one direction," "There's another universe" "Where it goes" "In another direction." "Every time I spill my coffee" "In this universe," "There's another universe" "Where my coffee remains safe." "According to this" "Many worlds interpretation" "Of quantum mechanics," "Anything that could've been," "Has happened somewhere." "And anything that can be," "Will be somewhere" "In the multiverse." "And so there are literally" "Countless universes" "Splitting off from our own," "Every second of every day" "Of every year." "And if that's the case," "Then people argue that, well," "Traveling back in time," "You could go back" "And kill your grandfather" "And you'd still be alive." "Well, how is that?" "Well, you just traveled" "Into a different universe." "If time travel is possible," "One thing is certain." "It's going to take" "A lot of energy." "inbackto thefuture," "Doc achieves time travel" "When he gets his Delorean" "Powered up with 1.21 jigowatts" "And achieves a speed" "Of 88 miles per hour." "That's all just" "Complete fantasy." "The actual energy required" "For travel backwards in time," "That is, travel faster" "Than the speed of light," "Is infinite or even" "More than infinite" "From what we can tell," "Or requires" "Some sort of a wormhole" "Or other passage shortcut" "Through the universe." "1.21 jigowatts" "Just isn't gonna do it." "88 miles an hour" "Just isn't gonna do it." "sometimes,moviescience" "Trumps science science." "whatisafluxcapacitor" "And how does it work?" "You know, I have no idea" "Whatsoever." "thebackto thefuture" "Trilogy also shows" "Flying cars speeding down" "Aerial highways" "In the now not-so-far-off year" "Of 2015." "Many tales of science fiction" "Miss the mark when it comes" "To predicting the future." "oneoftheamazingthings" "About going back" "And looking at old Sci-Fi is" "People never really imagined" "How integral a part of our lives" "Computers would become," "How all of us would have" "Our own handheld devices," "Our own laptops," "Our own desktops," "And everything we do" "Would in many ways be mediated" "Through the technology." "Even small children" "Now have their own laptops," "In many cases." "And you don't see this" "In the Sci-Fi." "butinotherways," "The distinctions" "Between the worlds" "Of science fiction" "And science fact" "Are becoming" "More and more blurred" "With each passing year." "After all, kirk and Spock" "Aren't the only ones" "With a pocket-sized" "Communications device" "That can connect you" "With anyone else on the planet." "bormanistograzier." "Bormanis to grazier." "Come in." "underthetopic" "Of communications technology..." "Excuse me." "Not now, Andre." "I'm busy." "Communications is a place" "Where science has outpaced" "Science fiction." "The cell phone that flip open" "Like the original communicator," "Actually have more options" "Than the communicator did." "I mean, did you ever see" "Mr. Spock playing Tetris?" "Did you ever see Captain kirk" "Interrupted by a text message?" "No." "Science trumps science fiction." "Who'd have thought it?" "whatseemedmiraculous 40 years ago" "Is carried around" "In our pockets today." "sciencefiction" "Is the dreaming side of science." "It's the imagination," "But you can't have" "Science itself" "Without imagination." "Science needs inspiration." "It needs that Eureka moment," "That "aha!"" "And I think science fiction" "Helps create those moments" "For scientists." "witheachpassingdecade," "Creators of fantastic tales" "Of the future" "Push the imagination further," "Because man will always" "Wonder about tomorrow, even after it arrives." "A paradox the intertwine worlds of science fiction and science fact."