Science Fiction to Science Fact: Replicators

Description

This series explores the real-life science behind some of our favourite science fiction gadgets and shows how a future filled with space shuttles, solar sails and bionic limbs might be closer than you think!

Do you lose yourself in daydreams about invisibility cloaks, tractor beams and replicators? Do you wish that you could have been born a few hundred years later, when all of these things are a reality?

Imagine if scientists had a tool that could make food or a chair seemingly out of thin air. Star Trek fans might recognize this piece of technology as replicator, a concept that was also used in other science fiction stories. Readers learn that similar technology does exist, and it could eventually be used just like Star Trek replicators. Including STEM content as well as connections to popular culture, each chapter introduces readers to the latest in replicating technology, from 3D printers to lasers, through accessible language and explanations of this fascinating technology.

Table of Contents

1. Replicators: the fantasy
2. Uses for replicators
3. Replicators: the reality
4. How does 3D printing work?
5. What can be 3D printed?
6. Bioprinting
7. Stem cells: nature’s replicators
8. Cloning
9. Nanotechnology
10. Replicators: the future
11. The dangers of replicating
12. What would you create?
13. Glossary
14. Index