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So many of hopes and dreams for colonizing space rely on faster than light travel, and yet the ability to move between stars in moment seems against the laws of reality… but perhaps we can break those rules.

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Continue reading “Cheating Reality” »

In Episode 3 we look at the concept of warp drives, a theoretical type of spaceship propulsion that warps spacetime to allow faster than light travel. We discuss the basic concept and the scientific and technological hurdles to developing it, along with clearing up many of the myths about it.

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Continue reading “FTL03: Alcubierre Warp Drives” »

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Scientists are finally getting a look at frozen lunar surface samples from the last time that humans walked on the Moon.

The samples were collected during the Apollo 17 mission, which returned to Earth in December 1972.

Continue reading “Frozen Apollo 17 samples finally analysed after 50 years” »

A team of physicists at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Physics and Astronomy has used mathematical calculations to show that quantum communications across interstellar space should be possible. In their paper published in the journal Physical Review D, the group describes their calculations and also the possibility of extraterrestrial beings attempting to communicate with us using such signaling.

Over the past several years, scientists have been investigating the possibility of using quantum communications as a highly secure form of message transmission. Prior research has shown that it would be nearly impossible to intercept such messages without detection. In this new effort, the researchers wondered if similar types of communications might be possible across interstellar space. To find out, they used math that describes that movement of X-rays across a medium, such as those that travel between the stars. More specifically, they looked to see if their calculations could show the degree of decoherence that might occur during such a journey.

With quantum communications, engineers are faced with quantum particles that lose some or all of their unique characteristics as they interact with obstructions in their path—they have been found to be quite delicate, in fact. Such events are known as decoherence, and engineers working to build quantum networks have been devising ways to overcome the problem. Prior research has shown that the space between the stars is pretty clean. But is it clean enough for quantum communications? The math shows that it is. Space is so clean, in fact, that X-ray photons could travel hundreds of thousands of light years without becoming subject to decoherence—and that includes gravitational interference from astrophysical bodies. They noted in their work that optical and microwave bands would work equally well.

Making pizza is not rocket science, but for this actual rocket scientist it is now. Benson Tsai is a former SpaceX employee who is now using his skills to launch a new venture: Stellar Pizza, a fully automated, mobile pizza delivery service. When a customer places an order on an app, an algorithm decides when to start making the pizza based on how long it will take to get to the delivery address. Inside Edition Digital’s Mara Montalbano has more.

One consequence of this is there is no guarantee the clocks will tick at the same rate. In fact, many clocks will tick at different rates.

Even worse, the faster you travel relative to someone else, the slower your clock will tick compared to theirs.

Continue reading “In the New Disney Pixar Movie Lightyear, Time Gets Bendy. Is Time Travel Real, or Just Science Fiction?” »

Spoiler alert: this article explains a key plot point, but we don’t give away anything you won’t see in trailers. Thanks to reader Florence, 7, for her questions.

At the beginning of the new Disney Pixar film, Lightyear, Buzz Lightyear gets stranded on a dangerous faraway planet with his commanding officer and crew.

Continue reading “Is time travel real? What Pixar’s movie Lightyear shows about Einstein’s theory” »

Good news for NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, the solar array of which is now almost completely deployed.