Physics of the Impossible summary

From the Greek mathematician Archimedes to the Star Wars movies, we’ve been enthralled by the idea of using lasers or rays of light as weapons. But how realistic is it to think we’ll someday fire handheld phaser guns or harness the planet-destroying force of George Lucas’s Death Star?

With advances in nanotechnology, a handheld laser gun could become possible in the not-too-distant future. In fact, the military already uses lasers in their missile defense systems.

Remember the last time you were stuck in a traffic jam, daydreaming about “beaming” yourself to your destination? This idea of teleportation involves transferring matter, energy or information from one location to another without actually moving it through physical space, and it’s not as outlandish an idea as you may have thought.

According to quantum theory, teleportation occurs spontaneously all the time. That is, electrons are constantly taking “quantum jumps,” meaning they can suddenly vanish and reappear elsewhere within the atom, or even appear in many different locations simultaneously. That is to say, it’s theoretically possible that one day you could get to where you need to – a meeting, a party or Mars –  instantaneously.

Who wouldn’t want to read minds? For over a century, scientists have been investigating the claims of psychics and looking into the technological possibilities that could enable mind-reading and other kinds of extrasensory perception (ESP), including psychokinesis, that is, the ability to move objects with the mind.

While there’s no solid evidence that people can read minds, technology is making leaps and bounds in reading brain activity. However, since the electrical signals emitted from the brain are so weak, they aren’t readable and, even if we could attach an antenna to them, we have no way to unscramble the signals.

From Rosie in The Jetsons to the Terminator, we have been fascinated by the idea of robots and artificial intelligence for generations. But while modern computers can perform mind-boggling calculations in the blink of an eye, there are some very basic things they can’t do.

Like speaking a language, for example. Whereas machines can be programmed to combine symbols and form grammatically correct sentences, they can’t comprehend the meaning behind words, and many theorists claim they never will. So far, computer scientists have failed to program common sense into machines and pattern recognition remains poor in computers.

Are we the only intelligent beings in the universe? We’ve asked this question for centuries, but are we any closer to finding an answer?

Scientists are certainly making steps toward finding other intelligent life-forms: our telescopes are getting better and our capacity to interpret what they show us is improving, too. So much so that a new extrasolar planet is discovered twice a month. Also, as we continue to send out satellites, the likelihood of finding signs of life elsewhere in the universe increases.

In a few billion years, the sun will swell and engulf the Earth. If humanity is to survive, we’d better figure out a way to leave the solar system. So how could we do this?

It starts with finding the right fuel source to send a starship across the universe. It’s no easy feat, but science is already exploring different options.

Einstein theorized that the speed of light was the ultimate speed in the universe but physicists have discovered two possible loopholes in his thinking.

The first is warping space. If you imagine space as a piece of paper, and you want to get from one end of the page to the other, then warping space is like folding the piece of paper so the two ends meet. Einstein’s equations state that the warping of space-time can be calculated, given a certain amount of mass or energy. But, if you start calculating with negative mass or negative energy, you can come up with results that are faster than light, and thus contradict Einstein.

The notion of time travel has made for captivating science fiction. And although eminent physicist Stephen Hawking has contested the possibility of time travel since we haven’t yet encountered a time traveler, there isn’t anything about the idea that violates the laws of physics or quantum theory.

In fact, humans have already traveled into the future, albeit in a very minor way.

What did both Leonardo Da Vinci and Nikola Tesla consider the holy grail of invention? The perpetual motion machine – a device that can produce more energy than it consumes.

As our population expands, satisfying our energy needs is becoming a crucial subject for many of today’s scientists, but we could combat our problems with a perpetual motion machine.

Einstein spent the latter part of his life chasing one ultimate goal: a theory of everything. That is, one unifying theory that could explain all the fundamental forces of the universe, including gravity, electromagnetism, and weak and strong nuclear force. This theory would encompass all physical laws and enable us to explain the origins of the universe. But he was not successful.

Today, however, thanks to the continued exploration of space and to quantum physics, we are closer than ever before to developing a theory of everything.