The science of Star Trek

Today's launch of the new Star Trek movie bodes well not just for Paramount and movie theaters, but also for geeks and engineers. Though Gene Roddenberry intended his "Wagon Train to the stars" as a message of hope for humanity, the technology behind his crew's voyages has inspired many real-life scientists, if not to reverse engineer this science fiction, then at least to reach for the stars.

In recognition of this trend, a Computerworld story today looks at whether or not sci-fi films get advance technology right. It's a challenging article, as it looks at six broad categories of science and compares their representations in films to reality. There are only so many parallels that can be drawn in just three pages, and surely you the reader will bring to it your own "But what about ... " omissions. Perhaps the piece should've been more focused, like DVICE's story "4 Star Trek technologies that are almost here (and 3 that are really far off)". But here at Computerworld, we were just too enthusiastic about rattling off as many films and gadgets as possible to limit ourselves.

What film technologies do you wish were real? And what genres (of either movie or science) should future Computerworld articles look at? We're always open to suggestions, so please post your thoughts!