Physics of the Impossible

In the mid-19th century, science fiction writer Jules Verne predicted what Paris might look like in the 1960s. He described fax machines, glass skyscrapers and high-speed elevated trains. It was the stuff of fantasy at the time, the inventions of a fiction writer. Now let’s skip ahead 30 years to 1899, when an actual scientist, physicist Lord Kelvin, wrote that "radio has no future... heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible... and X-rays will prove a hoax."

It might seem counter-intuitive that the flashy predictions of an artist would prove more accurate than those of a scholar. But Verne's ideas, like those of many sci-fi writers, were rooted in scientific realities.

A new book looks at the relationship between the rigors of science and the imagined world of sci-fi. It’s by theoretical physicist and best-selling author Michio Kaku, and it's called "The Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation and Time Travel." Dr. Kaku joined Word of Mouth host Virginia Prescott to put our popular notions from Star Trek and Star Wars under the microscope of possibility.

Read an excerpt from "Physics of the Impossible" on Force Fields and Plasma Windows

(Photo by Nick Carchidi)