The Science of Star Trek: The Scientific Facts Behind the Voyages in Space and Time

by Mark Brake

Overview

Boldly go where no man has gone before and discover the real science behind the cyborgs, starships, aliens, and antimatter of the Star Trek galaxy.

Star Trek is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. It has changed our cultural landscape in so many ways since it first aired in 1966. The franchise has generated billions of dollars in revenue, leading to a wide range of spin-off games, novels, toys, and comics. Star Trek is noted for its social science, too, with its progressive civil rights stances and its celebration of future diversity that began with The Original Series, one of television's first multiracial casts.
 
The Science of Star Trek explores one of the greatest science-fiction universes ever created and showcases the visionary tech that inspired and influenced the real-world science of today. The perfect Star Trek gift for fans of the franchise, this book addresses many unanswered, burning questions, including: 

• What can Star Trek tell us about aliens in our Milky Way?
• How has Star Trek influenced space culture?
• What can Star Trek tell us about planet hunting?
• What Star Trek machines came true?
• When will we boldly go?

Learn more about one of our favorite modern epics with The Science of Star Trek!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510757882
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	04/05/2022
Series:	The Science of
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	1,036,979
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Mark Brake developed the world’s first science and science fiction degree in 1999. He also launched the world’s first astrobiology degree in 2005. He’s communicated science through film, television, print, and radio on five continents, including for NASA, Seattle’s Science Fiction Museum, the BBC, the Royal Institution, and Sky Movies. He was one of the founding members of NASA’s Astrobiology Institute Science Communication Group. He has written more than a dozen books, including Alien Life Imagined for Cambridge University Press in 2012. Mark also tours Europe with Science of Doctor Who, Science of Star Wars, and Science of Superheroes road shows.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Part I Space 1

What Can Star Trek Tell Us about Aliens in Our Milky Way? 3

Why Are They Called Star "Ships" and Space "Ships"? 16

How Does Star Trek Interpret the Drake Equation? 21

To Boldly Go: How Has Star Trek Influenced Space Culture? 26

What Can Star Trek Tell Us about Planet Hunting? 32

Are Star Trek and Picard Right about the Terraforming of Mars? 36

How Does Star Trek Portray Aliens? 41

Part II Time 47

The Inner Light: How Might Alien Civilizations Leave Footprints in Time? 49

City on the Edge of Forever: The Science of Allo-Histories 54

What's a History of Star Trek in Seven Objects? 62

Voyage Home to Save the Whale: Which Extinctions Most Changed Time? 70

What Does "The Naked Now" Teach Us about Rockets and Stars? 79

What Does the Star Trek: Picard Romulan Look-Back Device Teach Us about Science? 87

Part III Machine 95

What Star Trek Machines Came True? 97

Star Trek: When Will We Boldly Go? 107

How Might Species 8472 Destroy a Borg Cube in Seconds? 113

How Much Would It Cost to Build the Enterprise? 120

What Does the Measure of a Man Say about Machine Slavery? 127

As Commander Riker Asks, "What Exactly Is a Dyson Sphere?" 133

Apocalypse Cow: Is the Star Trek Replicator the Future of Food? 138

Part IV Monster 143

How Does "The Chase" Explain Human Evolution in the Star Trek Galaxy? 145

What Does Star Trek Have to Say about the Political Science of War? 154

Why Is "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" So Important to Science? 169

Are We Borg? 180

Index 191