A new book by a New York physicist suggests that some of the reality taken for granted by science fiction might not always be fiction.
[Michio] Kaku, one of the earliest proponents of string theory, still a contentious issue among physicists, divides the most common science-fiction tropes, or "impossibilities," into three categories â€” possible soon, possible in the far future and really, truly impossible.
Category 1, as he dubs it, includes things that may become true within the next century, if not the next few decades: teleportation (already possible, but only among subatomic particles); telepathy (thanks to brain implants); invisibility (already being researched using light-bending "metamaterials"); laser guns (existing, but hugely power-hungry); force fields; and the discovery of extraterrestrial life.
Category 2 includes things that are theoretically possible but would be realized only with thousands more years of technological progress: time travel (possibly through "wormholes" in space); traveling faster than light; and the discovery of parallel universes.
Yet as fascinating as that is to somebody who can quote most of the original Star Wars, it is Kaku's third category that may be the most interesting.