A century before Apollo astronauts walked on the Moon, science fiction told the public of a future with outposts on the Moon and orbiting high above the Earth. In the decades that followed, these earliest space station concepts evolved into orbital platforms that could launch manned missions to the Moon and Mars. After its inception, NASA picked up where visionaries left off, dabbling in space stations of varying layouts and capabilities before building the International Space Station that orbits the Earth today.
Every day it seems like Star Trek is looking more like actual science than science fiction. We're working on holographic doctors, transporter beams, and tricorders--and intelligent sliding doors are now a reality.
Railguns scream science fiction. Hobbyists love making these rifles, which use electromagnetic forces to rapidly accelerate a magnetic metal slug before hurling it into the air. This design, by YouTube user xtamared, is hardly the first homemade railgun, but it's one of the biggest. Here, watch as it knocks a cantaloupe off a pedestal:
It almost feels wrong to label The Martian as science fiction. Based on the book that computer programmer Andy Weir researched for three years, the movie feels like it could happen in real life any day now. You'll find no suspended animation, jump drives, or wormholes in this flick—just technologies that NASA is already using or could develop in the near future.
You know that scene in Frankenstein, where the doctor uses electricity to bring the monster to life? While a work of science fiction, electricity does play a key role in all life on earth. Electrical impulses are all around us, powering just about everything we think and do. But how did the first life get that vital spark?
