By: Grace Helmke

Hollywood has allowed us to visit incredible places and experience thrilling adventures filled with death-defying jumps, and heart-wrenching love stories. It has allowed science to come alive in a way that’s never before been seen. It has led us through stories of time travel, cloning, and so much more.

However, sometimes these films have a little more fiction than fact. Today, we are going to explore the science behind some famous TV shows and movies, and determine whether or not they are fact or fiction. 

‘Jurassic Park’ 

‘Jurassic Park’ centers around the idea that one one could create dinosaurs from blood in a mosquito, encased in amber, and preserved for millions of years.

This is simply false.

Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist, said that the likelihood of cloning a dinosaur is close to impossible. In order to make this happen, you would need the whole genome. However, no one has ever found dinosaur DNA. So, it’s incredibly unlikely that a T-Rex could get loose and wreak havoc in the future. 

‘Star Trek’ 

A major part of the show was the crew’s ability to travel at the speed of light. They called this warp speed. Warp speed essentially distorted the fabric of spacetime, allowing the crew to travel superluminally, or faster than the speed of light.

‘Back to the Future’

This classic 80s film features the creation of the DeLorean, a time travel machine.

‘Contact’

This film features a lot of fictional science and inaccuracies. It was praised for its realistic depiction of the search for extraterrestrial life.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.insider.com/incorrect-science-in-science-fiction-films-2018-10
• https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/time-travel/en/
• https://interestingengineering.com/fact-or-science-fiction-how-accurate-are-some-of-hollywoods-most-iconic-sci-fi-films
• https://www.goliath.com/movies/sci-fi-movies-that-are-actually-scientifically-accurate/
• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190415090853.htm