Popular Science Fiction

Cosmology. What the hell is it? Let's keep the definition simple. It is the study of the Universe in it's totality, black holes, dark matter, dark energy, quarks and so on. What's the point to it? Simply to understand where we are, and where we come from. It is an incredibly complex and daunting project which no single individual (or group for that matter) can discover alone. It requires groups of scientists, researchers and even philosophers to tackle even the smallest tread of mystery surrounding the cosmic veil. A great deal of this is simply beyond the scope of understanding for the average Joe, but that doesn't make it any less awesome.

Yeah... I don't even know how to read the squiggly lines.

Space, being the final frontier (ahem, nerd) and being totally out of reach for the great majority of humans, is something that can't help but inspire awe and wonder inside of us. Did you know that for a very brief time in Earths history, people were absolutely sure of life on Mars? In the infancy of high powered telescopic viewing, scientists saw what the believed to be industrial irrigation pipes coming from the northern and southern poles of this planet, the ice caps, and spreading throughout the land. They immediately assume that alien life in Mars was confirmed and that this was their method for surviving on this harsh land. They released a statement and the papers read "Life on Mars confirmed". A day later, they cleaned the lens and found that dirt and scratches were to blame for the 'lines' they saw. When they looked at the planet again, they saw the same thing we see today, a red lifeless rock. It was an embarrassing time for science, but it gave birth to the classic martian stories that spawned countless movies. Science, although inaccurate, inspired science fiction.

I'm still holding out hope for a Martian Raygun to be found.

The ocean still has some of this mystique, though it has recently been drowned out through exploration and the finding that, well, it's kinda boring down there. People are no longer expecting to find Atlantis, and even if we do, the Mer-people living there are probably going to be pale with antennae and no eyes. It really kills the romance doesn't it? The love affair with the sky is still alive and well though. And the discoveries that Cosmologists and Theoretical Physicists are finding serve to fuel the imagination... when we can understand what they hell they are talking about. An example would be the show Firefly. This show used the concept of terra forming as an explanation for humans being able to colonize distant planets. The idea is, theoretically possible. Although our technology today is limited, there still exists a possibility that one day humans will be able to change the chemistry of a barren planet to a more hospitable one. The question that might plague some science nuts is ‘Even if we can do that, how the hell will we get to far off planets?’ Great question. The answer: Antimatter. A positron colliding with an electron produces a brilliant explosion that is visible and measureable with the right equipment (The Large Hadron Collider). What makes this interesting is that both a positron and an electron have virtually  no mass, yet it still is able to produce an incredible amount energy. One of the smallest, lightest things in the universe and it has the power to go BOOOOOM! There exists the theory that one day we will be able to harness this fantastic cosmic power and use it for the propulsion of space craft. Solving the riddle for moving faster than light is a different perplexing equation all together, but one that can be seen tackled in the recent Star Trek movie when Scotty says “It never occurred to me to think of space as the thing that was moving.” It would be hard to argue that you were surpassing the speed of light if you weren’t the one moving at all, wouldn’t it?

"Sir, we're not moving."

 "Yeah I know... and we've just arrived."

"... that was easy."

Science, although daunting, serves to help expand the imagination, and the imagination in turns helps scientist to see things in new and innovative ways. It is said the Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode where Data was simultaneously listening to multiple songs, inspired the inception of the MP3. The imaginative Holodeck on the same show has pushed the widespread use and research of holographic technologies (have you seen the holographic keyboard? So freakin cool!). Science has served to inspire me as it sheds light to the mysteries of the universe and with it, leaves the door open for imaginative interpretations of our existence. There is that saying, that ‘every story has already been told’, well with science, the more we know the more stories we’ll be able to tell.  

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