Star Trek introduced us to the amazing technologies of a fictional future such as warp drive, replicators, and photon torpedoes, but it turns out that some of those technologies aren’t so fictional anymore. In this episode hear theoretical physicist and author Ethan Siegel, PhD, talk about some of the real inventions that were inspired by Star Trek (iPads, anyone?), and some technologies like tractor beams and holodecks that might be closer to reality than you realize. 

Ethan’s talk is based on his book Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive and you can read more of his writing at his blog Starts With A Bang. Also, help support his work by checking out Ethan’s Patreon page. 

Here’s the Hubble telescope image of 10,000 galaxies that Ethan mentions about 6:45.