Cool science stuff

Most of the stuff in Star Trek was based at least on scientific theories, wasn't it? I thought Roddenberry was famous for that.
Obviously it worked the other way, too, by inspiring people to make the stuff in the show into reality. Our modern day smart phones are basically tri-corders.

 

Just saw this now, and yes, it's fascinating. I had read a story about that on IFuckingLoveScience.com earlier this week and it's pretty nutty. However, it's hard to get too excited until they can repeat the results. The findings of particles moving faster than light at the Large Hadron Collider last year were nothing more than instrumental error, so I'm waiting to see if they can replicate this. The warp bubble concept is amazing.

 

I just finished reading "The Martian" by Andy Weir about an astronaut accidentally abandoned by his crew on Mars. Lots of geeky science stuff.

 

Tricorders are now real: Scanadu |
PADDs (Personal Access Display Devices) are now what we think of as tablets.

The original Star Trek communicators were a prelude to flip phones.
Automatic doors are a part of everyday life.
Universal translators are basically Google Translate.
High definition video conferencing is a part of life now.
Computers that can speak back to you are, too.
We have naval ships outfitted with weaponized lasers.

And none of it seems nearly as fanciful as it did on Star Trek.

 

This is what I keep telling my stepsons. I'm not ancient (mid-50s) but when I was a kid it was a science fiction staple that we wouldn't use cash. Our pay would be deposited to our account and we would just have a card to pay for things.

 

Hell, I'm in my 30s and the PADDs, communicators and video conferencing all seemed like total fantasy when I was a kid. Now, they're major tools in my professional life.

 

My Iphone 6 has way more ability than anything they could dream up on Star Trek (other than the transporters).

 

As someone who was (and still is) constantly running late, the transporter/teleportation has long been my favorite science fiction dream.

 

Yeah but, man, if the Wi-Fi goes out in mid-transport, you're fucked.

 

Yeah, those kinds of issues actually came up occasionally in Star Trek.

 

Note to self: Do not wear a red shirt into the transporter when they become our preferred mode of transportation.

 

Graphene is freaking amazing:

Spacecraft built from graphene could fly without any fuel | MNN - Mother Nature Network

And it still makes an awesome tennis racket.