Category Archives: Science Fiction or Science Fact

Science Fiction or Science Fact: The Star Trek Replicator

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The Replicator, as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation, was used primarily to provide food for the crew in the final frontier. According to fan theories, the device functioned by rearranging the subatomic particles already found in abundance, across the universe. Starting with atoms of carbon, hydrogen and adding proteins and acids, the machine could easily recreate meat cuts, among all other sorts of foods and beverages (Like tea, Earl Grey, hot.)

While significant liberties were taken with the science and technology concepts surrounding the replicator, the first attempts at creating a real life system that theoretically may turn energy to matter are currently underway. The secret? Really big lasers.

The Extreme Light Infrastructure, currently under development in Europe, is being billed as “the most powerful laser ever” and is expected to be able to produce small particles, in a vacuum. While that is a big leap away from a nearly-instant steak dinner, the core concept is fairly similar. The biggest challenge to physicists is developing a laser powerful enough to prevent particles from becoming antiparticles, where they are inevitably destroyed. Once that problem is resolved, researchers can get to work on manipulating the particles into a substantial mass.

The Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI) is currently in its implementation phase, and serves as the “world’s first international laser research infrastructure.” ELI aims to use research surrounding high-powered lasers, for greater developments in the fields of physics, medicine, and new emerging technologies.

Often credited as the most scientifically accurate sci-fi entries, the fact that researchers are actively researching the root concepts behind Star Trek replicator only echoes that statement. It may only be the next generation before we see the first attempts at food replication. Find the original story here.

 

Science Fiction or Science Fact: Does Cyclops Have Laser Eyes?

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Often portrayed as the team leader in Marvel Comics’ X-Men, Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops, is usually seen as the straight-laced, clean-cut, by-the-book type of hero. As a mutant, his ability or “power” is to shoot powerful optic beams. Cyclops struggles with controlling his power, due to a head injury as a child. In an effort to contain the blasts, Cyclops wears protective eyewear, usually sunglasses or a visor, with ruby quartz lenses. The beams are often portrayed as ruby-red in color, and fire straight ahead of where his eyes are pointed. 

Clearly, mutant powers are very much a work of fiction, so writing off Cyclops and his optic blasts as scientifically inaccurate is where most leave the idea. Surprisingly, despite numerous inaccuracies in the technicalities of his powers, Cyclops has a much stronger connection to laser history than meets the eye.

Even if your entire knowledge of the X-Men universe is the recent films, you have a relative idea of just how intense the blasts Cyclops uses are. In some instances, the blasts have been strong enough to level mountains. Despite of how it may appear, Cyclops does not have laser eyes. Like many comic book characters, Cyclops’ has had much of his story altered, rewritten, and totally done away with over time. The current accepted “explanation” of his powers is that optic beams are actually a directed beam of kinetic directed force “of unknown composition”. According to Marvel, Cyclops official power is the “ability to project a beam of heatless, ruby-colored, concussive force from his eyes,” Oh, and they are also solar powered, because what better energy source than the sun, right?

While, currently, Cyclops’ powers are almost a mockery of real life physics, waving away concerns about eye damage, power sources, and cool-down times, it is important to keep in mind one important thing about Cyclops as a character. Cyclops dates back to the early 1960’s, making his character, and by extension, his powers, about as old as the laser itself. As ridiculous as the idea of laser beams emitted from one’s eyes sounds today, this is an example of a then-new scientific development finding its way directly into pop culture, for better or for worse.

So, if Cyclops’ powers were quietly retconned to account for the lack of scientific accuracy, why of all substances, was ruby quartz chosen as the material for the lenses used to keep the beams at bay. As a somewhat rare gemstone, ruby quartz is better suited for making jewelry than for protective eyewear. In its natural state, the gemstone is on the fragile side, crumbling easily. Its likely rather, that deciding upon ruby quartz was directly inspired by the ruby laser, developed by Theodore H. “Ted” Maiman, in 1960. The ruby which used a “synthetic ruby crystal as its gain medium,” and is credited as the first working laser. Using ruby quartz as a way to contain what was then “laser beams” was likely based upon a very vague, rudimentary understanding of how lasers work. As Cyclops developed as a character, so did his powers, becoming the interdimensional, unknown substance beams accepted today.

An important detail often left out of scenes involving Cyclops using his powers is how drastically his neck would snap back when “firing” the beams. According to The Physics of Superheroes, if Newton’s Third Law applies in this universe, the beam of force would push back on Cyclops’ head with “a recoil force of 4,000 pounds.” Not to mention that Cyclops’ head would fling back at a speed close to 20 times that of gravity. Essentially, Cyclops would need a healing ability similar to that of fellow X-Men team member Wolverine in order to endure the recurring broken neck, and other injuries caused by the recoil.

While superheroes, mutants, and beings from sci-fi universes, like Cyclops often possess powers and weapons that would never be possible in the real world, almost all of them have some degree of realism in their origin. While no, Cyclops does not actually have “laser eyes,” his powers, and protective eyewear were heavily inspired by developments in laser technology. In the comic book world, incorrect concepts can be crafted into being “unknown substances” and from alternate But more often than not, these concepts are at least loosely based in factual studies, experiments and concepts.  Cyclops’ optic beams, and ruby quartz lenses? Completely science fiction, with a very heavy influence from early laser technology.

Science Fiction or Science Fact: The Living Laser

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The portrayal of lasers in comic books is typically light on the science and heavy on the fiction. Requiring the reader to suspend a great portion of their belief, there are a few instances in which the laser applications found between the pages are surprisingly true to life. Just one of these instances was Marvel‘s the Living Laser.

The Living Laser was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck in 1966. The Marvel Comics villain has appeared in a number of story arcs, usually opposite Iron Man.While it is unlikely that we will see the Living Laser in any of the big screen adaptations of Marvel’s classic tales, the Living Laser serves as a reminder that not all pop culture iterations of laser technology are completely unrealistic.

When characters like X-Men’s Cyclops were created, the word “laser” was still in the process of being introduced to the world’s vocabulary. The general public, including the creators, had very little knowledge of how a laser actually worked. forcing aspects of some character’s origins to be rewritten over time. The Living Laser, however, was an attempt to fix some of those early errors, by creating a ever-so-slightly more realistic laser application to the printed page.

The Living Laser started as a scientist with a criminal streak. He developed a weapon consisting of wrist mounted lasers to aid in his crimes. While, sure, someone could develop a device that emits a small, low powered laser from the wrist, the beams used by the Living Laser are far more powerful than one could, or would even want to have anywhere near their flesh.

Realistically, the types of lasers that could be strapped to a human being would be closer to that of a laser pointer than a powerful weapon. So unless the Living Laser is aiming right at Tony Stark’s eyes or maybe skin, Iron Man would absolutely have the technical advantage in the fight.

The comics smooth this over by claiming that the Living Laser was “scientifically proficient” enough to overcome barriers associated with his weapon. How exactly a mortal man overcomes extreme heat, the need for a strong power source, or size limitations is where obvious signs of a work of fiction come into play. The Living Laser’s technology was not completely ignorant to physical principles, but still took a number of liberties in the application.

The Living Laser later upgraded himself as a super-villain by developing a way to implant the laser apparatus into his body. This gave the Living Laser the ability to not only project his lasers further, but also allowed for the manipulation of the refraction of light, allowing the Living Laser to become invisible to the naked eye. Over time, the Living Laser increased the amount and power of his laser implants before overpowering himself and becoming entirely made of photons, thus literally becoming his namesake: A Living Laser.

As off the wall as the concept of a biological laser sounds, the concept is actually the closest to reality of any of the Living Laser’s background. In 2011, scientists were able to create a laser light using human cells and jellyfish proteins, prompting the first use of biological materials to make a laser, generating light from a living organism. The idea of turning cells into lasers have a number of applications in the medical field. In the not-so-distant future, cells that need to be thoroughly researched or monitored could be turned into lasers, so the construction and composition of the cell can be easier, and more thoroughly analyzed. That being said, turning a living being into photons is entirely a concept of fiction.

However, a Harvard-based study expanded on the concept of biological lasers last Summer, proposing it as a way to monitor cancer and other cell-based ailments. The researchers found three different ways to make human cells emit light, by injecting oil droplets, fat cells, and macrophages into cells. When injected into the material, the cells were able to emit light. Injecting cells to monitor them is far from new. However, the visible wavelengths using fluorescent dyes are far more difficult to distinguish than that of laser light. Using laser light, it is entirely possible to give different cells very different appearances. The researchers anticipate using the findings to monitor tumors and immune system ailments. We won’t be able to turn invisible like the Living Laser, but we may live a little longer by putting lasers inside of us.

If anything, the Living Laser, and other related super humans give a very rudimentary introduction to the laser. While far from textbook accurate, the placement of lasers in popular culture pique the interest of people of all ages. The Living Laser is just one of many examples of the world’s fascination with the laser beam.

Science Fiction or Science Fact: Why Star Trek Opted For Phasers Over Lasers

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In the past, we looked at why lightsabers will likely never be holstered to our hips, unless we live in a galaxy far, far away. But what about in “the final frontier”? In the Star Trek universe, phasers are far more commonplace than laser-based weapons and technology. Today, we’re going to look at why the creators chose to use mostly phasers, over lasers, while also analyzing whether or not phasers are any more likely to exist than the mostly-debunked technology of the other space-adventure universe.

In the original series’ pilot, as well as some of the following episodes, lasers were present aboard and used against The Enterprise. Giving credibility to the widely-held belief that Star Trek’s creators were among most scientifically-aware science fiction developers of possibly all time, they realized that lasers would only work as a weapon in the show for a small period of time. As the viewing public, and world at large, learned more about lasers and their capabilities, the creators felt that the audience would eventually catch on to the inaccurate portrayal of laser technology. In The Next Generation, the laser is considered a primitive weapon, opting instead for phasers, a different sort of energy-based weapon, created for the Star Trek universe.

That is not to say that lasers were completely eliminated from Star Trek. The Borg cutter weapon is a notable exception to the deviation from lasers. Using directed laser energy, the cutting beam found on Borg ships was able to remove sections of planets and ships, with exact precision. There were other small instances of lasers in the series, but mostly gave way to phasers and other directed energy weapons.

The word phaser comes from “Photon” and “Maser.” At the time of Star Trek’s initial development, the laser was relatively new. The maser, however, had been around for a while, and was generally known to be capable of producing long-range, coherent beams of electromagnetic radiation. The photon masers in Star Trek release “rapid nadons,” a fictional subatomic particle.  Additionally, a phaser can allow for a change of power (Such as “stun” or “kill”)  as opposed to a laser, which has one solid, consistent, beam of light and energy. When dealing with weaponry, a beam that can be adjusted and changed depending on who or what it is being fired at, has a number of advantages in cosmic battle.

So, are phaser weapons any more likely to exist than a lightsaber? Unfortunately, they are both entirely works of science fiction. While Directed Energy Weapons have been in development and researched for decades, the laser weapons of the real world are much closer to a laser pointer than a sophisticated ray gun. They all suffer from the same problem known as divergence. Essentially, laser beams will become larger, depending on the size and wavelength. Longer wavelengths become larger, faster than shorter ones. Shorter wavelengths, however, are more prone to scattering due to rain, dust, smoke, or other particulates in the air.  A larger beam is less susceptible to this, but typically possesses less energy, making it a less effective weapon.

The biggest problem in developing phaser, or even laser weapons? The amount of power needed to even use the weapon. Like lightsabers, there is no current way to condense the mechanisms necessary to give energy to a laser of weapon-like power into a device that can fit into one’s hands. Even including it on a massive spacecraft would likely pose too big of a weight burden to be worth using.

To put it in perspective, current attempts at developing laser weapons require the support of a large truck, and that’s just to test the laser. Not to mention, the level of heat that would be generated when powering the weapon would be too hot to handle, or be anywhere near comfortable around. Meaning a cooling system would be necessary for the weapon, adding even more weight, and equipment to an already lofty weapon. Unless researchers develop a super-battery, or find a way to decrease the heat created when powering a laser, it is safe to say that we will not be firing phasers, or even laser guns, anytime soon.