Science for Use in Science Fiction

[Stryder50]

Archiving this here for now. Main point is in the excerpt of the concluding paragraphs and what they say about "peer reviewed".
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The Hero Scientist Who Passed Off A Star Trek Episode As A Scientific Paper​

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So, that was "Threshold," a story that's still recapped in retrospective articles, in conventions ... and in the American Research Journal of Biosciences. Because in 2018, a scientist calling himself Lewis Zimmerman submitted a paper about the episode, titling it "Rapid Genetic and Developmental Morphological Change Following Extreme Celerity."

This paper was not some kind of exploration of real-world science through the lens of Star Trek—if it sounds like "Threshold" used any real-world science, we did a bad job recapping it. Instead, Zimmerman claimed to have forced two actual research subjects into Warp 10, resulting in the "spontaneous exfoliation of skin cells," "internal morphological differences," and "measurement of heart number increasing two-fold" (i.e., each subject grew a second heart, like Tom did in Star Trek). Zimmerman also claimed, just like in the episode, to have let the research subjects breed, resulting in "three viable, motile progeny."

Why did this journal print this nonsense? Because this journal, like several others, publishes whatever people submit without reviewing it, asking just for a fee. Zimmerman's goal here was to expose the fraudulent scientific publishing industry. It's a wide problem, one we've talked about before. Zimmerman (whose true name remains undisclosed, for his own protection), joins the ranks of several other crusading trolls, such as the guy who successfully managed to publish a paper on the power of midi-chlorians.
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The Hero Scientist Who Passed Off A Star Trek Episode As A Scientific Paper

 

[Stryder50]

Physicists make ‘impossible’ superconductor discovery that could make computers hundreds of times faster​

MSN

www.msn.com

 

[Stryder50]

Watch a space startup spin a projectile into the sky at more than 1,000 miles per hour​

...
SpinLaunch has a completely different approach. It plans to put a small rocket into a massive centrifuge that will whip it around to drum up most of the speed it will need to get to orbit. Then, the rocket would fly out of the centrifuge, gain thousands of feet in altitude and light up a small engine to continue its journey to drop a satellite off in space.

SpinLaunch says that this method could use just one quarter of the fuel that vertically launched rockets require, and it could be ten times cheaper. The company said the first test launch, conducted last year, "validated" key parts of the company's technology.
...

Watch a space startup spin a projectile into the sky at more than 1,000 miles per hour

 

[Stryder50]

A Meteor Exploded Over The Bering Sea With The Force Of 10 Atomic Bombs​

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On December 18th, 2018, a large meteor fell from the sky and exploded over the Bering Sea. This explosion had a force 10 times the strength of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima in 1945 (via CBC News). These types of events are known as fireballs, and they happen more often than you think.

The term "fireball" refers to a very bright meteor, typically one as bright as Venus in the night sky or brighter (via the American Meteor Society). Venus is typically the brightest object in the sky other than the moon and sun unless a bright fireball streaks by. The main difference between a normal meteor (or shooting star) and a fireball is simply size. Most meteors burn up in the upper atmosphere as they fall to the Earth, and fireballs are often not big enough to make it through Earth's atmosphere, as NASA reports. But, in some rare cases, such as the one that fell over the Bering Sea in 2018, they explode.
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A Meteor Exploded Over The Bering Sea With The Force Of 10 Atomic Bombs

 

[Stryder50]

One of my favorite authors, going back to my teen years (the 1960s), was the late Robert A. Heinlein. There were a few ideas/concepts I recall him presenting in his stories and books that might fit the bill of 'Science used in Science Fiction'. To the point maybe of predicting such that would later become reality.

First for consideration is the "waldo" - remote manipulator;
"A remote manipulator, also known as a telefactor, telemanipulator, or waldo (after the 1942 short story "Waldo" by Robert A. Heinlein which features a man who invents and uses such devices),[1] is a device which, through electronic, hydraulic, or mechanical linkages, allows a hand-like mechanism to be controlled by a human operator. The purpose of such a device is usually to move or manipulate hazardous materials for reasons of safety, similar to the operation and play of a claw crane game. "
Remote manipulator - Wikipedia


Next would be the water bed, which I believe he presented in the novel, "Stranger in a Strange Land" and a few other writings. Though it may have seen earlier versions, generally RAH is credited with the more modern version;
"Science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein described therapeutic waterbeds in his novels Beyond This Horizon (1942), Double Star (1956), and Stranger in a Strange Land (1961). In 1980 Heinlein recalled in Expanded Universe: "
Waterbed - Wikipedia

There were also a few ideas presented in his book "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress";
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Wikipedia

Though they may not have seen much "real use" so far, they likely are on the horizon.

First is the electro-magnetic catapult that the Lunar colony used to launch canisters of wheat towards Earth. And later 'rocks' to bombard Earth with. While we see something similar with "high speed railroads", I believe it has also been proposed as a possible launch aid for placing objects into LEO.

Next was the self-aware computer, an early concept of AI=Artificial Intelligence; "Mike". Whether or not our near future "AI" will have the personality and ingenuity of "Mike"(and his many guises) likely remains to be seen.

Finally, there was the aspect of a social science concept in the interesting marriage/family arrangements resulting from the two to one ratio of men versus women on Luna. As he often did, RAH was an early and intriguing commentator and advocate for women's right and gender equality. In this case, he provides a new turn around social condition where females may be rather dominant.

 

[Stryder50]

I'm a bit skeptical of this conclusion. We still don't know enough about the universe, IMO. So FWIW;

There Used to Be Aliens in Our Galaxy, but They Killed Themselves Off​

ETs have a thing for self-annihilation.
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There Used to Be Aliens in Our Galaxy, but They Killed Themselves Off

ETs have a thing for self-annihilation.

getpocket.com

 

[Stryder50]

One Great Article About Every Planet in the Solar System​

A guided tour of our planetary neighborhood, from mysterious Mercury to the dwarf planet Pluto and the search for the elusive Planet Nine.​

One Great Article About Every Planet in the Solar System

A guided tour of our planetary neighborhood, from mysterious Mercury to the dwarf planet Pluto and the search for the elusive Planet Nine.

getpocket.com

 

[Stryder50]

Again, pending a thread that is about science fiction;

10 Sci-Fi Movies That Will Give You An Existential Crisis​

10 Sci-Fi Movies That Will Give You An Existential Crisis

 

[Stryder50]

Google's AI Is Self-Aware And Has A Soul, Suspended Engineer Says​

Google has suspended Blake Lemoine after going public with his story about Google's LaMDA technology.
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Google's AI Is Self-Aware And Has A Soul, Suspended Engineer Says

Google has suspended Blake Lemoine after going public with his story about Google's LaMDA technology.

www.gamespot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Google Engineer Thinks That The AI has Become Aware Of Itself, And I​

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Is Google's chatbot program self-aware? | The Week​

 

[Stryder50]

More for context and the pessimistic perspective. It's a very big universe and I doubt the odds are so prohibitive as this author suggests.

Intelligent Life Really Can’t Exist Anywhere Else​

Hell, our own evolution on Earth was pure luck.

Intelligent Life Really Can't Exist Anywhere Else

Hell, our own evolution on Earth was pure luck.

getpocket.com

 

[Stryder50]

A Blinding History of the Laser Pointer​

They can wreck your eyes, and they can land you 14 years in jail for shining one at a police chopper. But where did they come from?​

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I often wondered who and what made it possible for my alcoholic buddy to wield such a dangerous tool. They’ve been around in one form or another for a while, of course — the invention of lasers writ large can be traced all the way back to 1900, which was when famed German physicist Max Planck published a paper surmising that energy is made of individual units, which he called quanta. His theory would later inspire Albert Einstein, who became the first person to realize that light is made up of photons in 1905. Using this knowledge, Einstein proposed a theory called stimulated emission, a process by which electrons (previously known as the aforementioned quanta) can be stimulated to emanate light of a particular wavelength. This is the process that would eventually make lasers possible.

Forty years later, Columbia University professor Charles Townes conceptualized a device that would come to be known as a maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) while sitting on a park bench in Washington. Based on Einstein’s stimulated emission theory, the device was able to amplify and even generate electromagnetic waves. A few years later, in 1957, Columbia University graduate student Gordon Gould scribbled the acronym LASER (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) and described the elements needed for constructing one in his notebook, which would eventually become the focus of a 30-year court battle for the patent rights to the device.

Around that same time, Townes and his brother-in-law published a paper showing that masers could be made to operate in optical realms, creating luminous lights, and were granted U.S. patent number 2,929,922 for the optical maser, which was officially called a laser at that point. Meanwhile, Gould and his private research company, Technical Research Group, were denied their patent application, launching what would become that super dramatic laser invention dispute I mentioned (Gould would eventually start receiving royalties from his patents in the late 1980s).

In 1960, the first working laser was built at Hughes Research Laboratory using a piece of ruby as a medium, light for an energy source and mirrors to produce a resonator that created a beam. Look, I don’t pretend to understand all of this either — just watch the handy explanatory video below.
...

A Blinding History of the Laser Pointer

They can wreck your eyes, and they can land you 14 years in jail for shining one at a police chopper. But where did they come from?

getpocket.com

 

[Stryder50]

Whoops, Humans Made a Space Barrier Around Earth​

The kicker? It’s actually saving us.

Whoops, Humans Made a Space Barrier Around Earth

The kicker? It’s actually saving us.

getpocket.com

 

[Stryder50]

10 Sci-Fi Films That Bombed At The Box Office But Became Cult Classics​

10 Small Habits That Have A Huge Return On Life

Don’t worry about how you will change. Focus on what habits you want to form and why.

getpocket.com

 

[Stryder50]

10 Times The Twilight Zone Predicted the Future​

10 Times The Twilight Zone Predicted the Future

(Maybe ...)

 

[Stryder50]

The only way to beat the speed of light​

There's a speed limit to the Universe: the speed of light in a vacuum. Want to beat the speed of light? Try going through a medium!
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The only way to beat the speed of light

There's a speed limit to the Universe: the speed of light in a vacuum. Want to beat the speed of light? Try going through a medium!

bigthink.com

 

[flan327]

More for context and the pessimistic perspective. It's a very big universe and I doubt the odds are so prohibitive as this author suggests.

Intelligent Life Really Can’t Exist Anywhere Else​

Hell, our own evolution on Earth was pure luck.​

Intelligent Life Really Can't Exist Anywhere Else

Hell, our own evolution on Earth was pure luck.

getpocket.com

Of course it can
Probably not carbon based

The HUBRIS to believe that WE are the ONLY ONES

 

[Stryder50]

Unusual items for future consideration ...

Coast to Coast AM: The Best Paranormal News Show | Coast to Coast AM

Get news about the weird and bizarre on Coast to Coast AM from radio host George Noory every night!

www.coasttocoastam.com

Mary Joyce Images 8/13/22 | Coast to Coast AM

UFO researcher Mary Joyce shares several images to accompany her appearance on the 8/13/22 show with Richard Syrett discussing secrets and cover-ups on Earth and beyond.

www.coasttocoastam.com

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Further context ...

Mary Joyce - UFO Investigator and Paranormal Author​

"Deep Space UFOs" with Mary Joyce, editor of the Sky Ships Over ...​

UFO researcher Mary Joyce at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

 

[Stryder50]

How to Tell Science From Pseudoscience

PopSci’s all-in guide to ferreting out falsehoods.

getpocket.com

 

[Stryder50]

20 of the Best Science Fiction Books of All Time​

20 of the Best Science Fiction Books of All Time | Book Riot

The best science fiction books of all time push the envelope, show what could be, and make you question what's possible.

bookriot.com

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I've read about half of these. Could think of a few others I'd swap out here.
Obviously this may be a subjective list.
Note that at the bottom of the linked page/list there are a few other links to click on related topic.

If you’re looking for more science fiction books, or information on its various genres, you can check out our other list of the most influential science fiction books of all time, this list of genre-bending science fiction, or maybe give some love to the best science fiction books you’ve never heard of.

(or you could click above)

 

[Stryder50]

How to Tell Science From Pseudoscience

PopSci’s all-in guide to ferreting out falsehoods.

getpocket.com

How to Read the News Like a Scientist

Overwhelmed by your news feed? Use tools from science to evaluate what’s true and what’s fake, suggests researcher Emma Frans.

getpocket.com