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But This Means Star Trek Deep Space Nine Was All a Lie!
Star Trek geeks are used to the idea that space travel might be possible through "wormholes" in space -- wormholes created by black holes. The physics behind this speculation is fairly abstract (for example, it would require those black holes -- which are dimensionless entities -- to be spinning and creating equally dimensionless "rings" through which one could theoretically pass, if one somehow managed to survive the massive radiation and gravity), but the upshot of it is that theoretically, they could be used to travel through space nearly instantaneously -- and not only space, but also time (what is time but just another dimension of our universe?).
Alas, time travel by wormhole looks like it might be out:
Calculations by the Oregon researchers show a wormhole that combines exotic matter with semi-classical space-time would be fundamentally unstable.
This result relies in part on a previous paper in which Hsu and Buniy argued that systems which violate a physical principle known as the null energy condition become unstable.
"We aren't saying you can't build a wormhole. But the ones you would like to build - the predictable ones where you can say Mr Spock will land in New York at 2pm on this day - those look like they will fall apart," Dr Hsu said.
Nuts. Mind you, travel by wormhole is not especially practical anyway, since among other things wormholes need to be fed exotic energy and controlled by technology which, despite the advent of PlayStation 3, we simply don't have at this point, or will have any time soon. Even so. Speaking as a science fiction writer, it's always a bummer to have a reasonably plausible explanation for the goofy stuff one write get taken off the market. But there's always the hope that these guys could be wrong. In the meantime, if you're planning to use a wormhole for your science fiction, be aware of the hitch.
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
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I'm a Stephen Hawkings fan and so dimensional space fits in..not necessarily for our species though (for traveling) ...
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There was once a time when any space travel was unthinkable. People never dreamed we could land on the moon. Science Fiction keeps coming true every day it seems. The guy could very well be wrong.
Kathy -
Hmm... well being somewhat unstable myself and prone to fall apart at times I now wonder if perhaps I am either a wormhole in disguise, hey I've been called worse, or am under the evil influence of a wormhole.
As for thoughts that these Oregon researchers blowing Sci-fi theories out of the water, they are talking mainly about human designed and maintained wormholes (like perhaps on Stargate?). We can still read, write, and dream about those exotic wonders out there in the universe where wormholes are a natural phenomenon. -
You mean Star Trek may not be true? Eegads! -Krissy
http://journals.aol.com/fisherkristina/SometimesIThink
5/25/05 2:38 PM