From fiction to reality

Snuggled up in bed on cold wintry nights, we used to read those mesmerising fairytales narrated by fictionists and feel as if we were actually experiencing the entire fairyland in reality.

Despite all its technological advancement, today's world is no less than a fairyland. During the last century, technology has accelerated like it never had during the entire human history. With all those breathtaking inventions, scientists have literally changed all the obsolete definitions of the word 'impossible'.

In this article, we'll try to agglomerate some of the countless efforts that the scientists have made by cutting ideas from fictionists' minds and pasting them in the folder of reality.

Invisibility Cloak

I remember when I was a child I used to get greatly fascinated by Umro Ayyaar's 'Sulemani chaadar' or 'sabz kumbal', which he used to wrap around himself to appear as invisible. Everyday, after the bedtime story, I used to think if in reality there could be such a shawl which could make one undetectable. At that time, it did not seem possible. Well, Umro Ayyar, with all his antics and of course, the Sulemani chaadar, is a thing of the past now. But Harry Potter's isn't! J.K. Rowling's famous character Harry owns an invisibility cloak, possessing the same magical power -- the person who wears it can't be seen by others.

However, in these days, too, the question of the actual existence of anything like the invisibility cloak appears to be logically outlandish.

But science doesn't bother with that. It's about facts, instead. On October 19, 2006, some British and American scientists invented a 'cloak' that experimentally prevented a copper wire to be detected by microwaves. The cloak, however, doesn't work with the wavelengths of the visible light. Recently, some other American groups of scientists claimed that an actual invisibility cloak could be invented. "It looks pretty much like fiction, but it's completely in agreement with the laws of physics," said the lead researcher Vladimir Shalaev, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue. "Ideally, if we make it real it would work exactly like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak."

We hope Vladimir and his team succeed soon, so that we may easily sneak into libraries to get our assignments done just the night before the deadline for that assignment!

Crystal Ball

Whether it was the Druids who invented the first crystal ball 4000 years ago or someone else who did it even earlier, knowing the inventor becomes a secondary concern once you realise you can actually use one at your home! The crystal ball fantasy became reality when in 1925 a Scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrated a strange cubic box that viewed events happenings somewhere away from the human ken. Does any bell ring in your mind? I am referring to the same invention which almost all of us use everyday, the television! The word 'television' is derived from two languages, Latin (tele – far) and Greek (vision – sight), meaning "far sight". The fiction of the crystal ball told us that it was a spherical ball made up of translucent glass through which one could view actions that are normally not apparent to the naked eye.

Today, you don't need to learn any difficult spells to see what is happening in another part of the world (or what happened in the past) through a crystal ball. You only have to switch on your TV and eureka! You got it! The television, in this regard, is another dream of man which has come true.

Flying Carpet

Magic carpets have appeared in literature from almost Biblical times till the present day. We have been reading in The Arabian Nights about this queer but interesting way of transportation via flying carpets. The Harry Potter books also are not devoid of flying carpet rides. In practice, it is not plausible for you to stare at an actual rug flying over your rooftop. Of course, carpets don't fly.

But, cars do! Don't rub your eyes guys, I am talking about a flying car! Out of more than 70 efforts made by many experts over the last century, one of the few scientists is still hopeful to create Skyblazer. The Skyblazer is a 'dual mode' vehicle, also known as a Roadable Aircraft that combines the speed of a jet plane and convenience of an automobile. It's under development right now, and many expectations are attached to it already. Robin Haynes of the Haynes Aero is optimistic about his designed car's future. He says that it will automatically convert from car mode to airplane mode and vice-versa, so you'd be able to fly and drive interchangeably.

To the already many plugs of expectations connected to the Skyblazer switch, let's add one from our side, too. Let's hope it would be in our lifetime that people would be able to experience the joy of soaring in the skies on a flying carpet in reality!

Broomstick

Experts aren't sure about the exact date when the connection of brooms with witchcrafts was established but it was, undoubtedly, before the 14th Century. However, science created its first broomstick in the 19th Century. It didn't look like a stick though, and didn't work automatically, but required a little amount of mechanical energy from the user. However, it served the same purpose of that of a broomstick. Well, not rambling out at nights, spreading terror among people, but transportation!

This scientific besom was named 'bicycle'. It was purely a mechanical gadget with two wheels. A newer version might be accounted closer to the actual broomstick in a sense that it doesn't involve any labour by the user, but just needs a 'kick-start'. We all know it by the name of 'motorbike'. Of course, you cannot use this mechanical broomstick to play Quidditch, but still it's helpful in moving from place to place, like its older counterpart.

Transmutation

In Paulo Coelho's, 'The Alchemist', we read about a Philosopher's Stone, which an old Arab used to convert lead into gold. He claimed to have 'found' the Stone, for he had actually understood the science of Alchemy, that included his familiarity with what he called the Language of the World, the Soul of the Earth, the realisation of his destiny and some other similar philosophies.

Alchemy is actually a scientific doctrine thought to have initiated earlier than 5000BC in Egypt. It has been practiced almost throughout the world since then. One of the best-known goals of the Alchemy has been the 'transmutation' of the common metals into gold; others being the creation of the Elixir of Life (a potion that grants the drinker an eternal life) and the discovery of a Universal Solvent. Now, don't be confused, chemistry students! It's not water! It's a liquid that could dissolve everything, even gold that is thought to be the most durable metal!

Though Alchemy has been practiced actively throughout the world and many great names of chemistry have been associated with it, nothing escapes criticism. The critics believed that converting one metal into another was nothing more than mere fiction! But at that time, the structure of an atom and the nuclear forces were unknown, too. In 1901, a chemical laboratory in the University of Montreal, Canada, echoed with the words: "This is transmutation!" A young chemist, Fredrick Soddy had cried out this to his teacher, Earnest Rutherford, when he had realised that the element thorium was converting into radium. Rutherford's reply was: "For Christ's sake, Soddy, don't call it transmutation. They'll have our heads off as alchemists." But Soddy's cry was actually the beginning of what scientists now call the Nuclear Transmutation Theory.

Scientists explain this conversion by saying that unstable atoms of some elements need to emit sub-atomic particles or electromagnetic waves to become stable. In the process, they change the number of positive charges (called protons) in their nucleus. Science calls this process Natural Radioactivity, as it's a natural process and has been occurring since the universe has come into being. A similar process can be taken out artificially, too – the credit for the discovery of which also goes to Lord Rutherford. Through the theory of Artificial Transmutation, the conversion of one element into another is now reduced to the definite problem of changing the number of the protons in the atomic nucleus. Such nuclear experiments have successfully transmitted lead into gold but the expense far exceeds any gain. Anyway, this is enough to silence the transmutation critics. Science, however, didn't use any Philosopher's Stone, learn the Language of the World or discover the Soul of the Earth.

But still, science has triumphantly converted another fiction into reality! All these startling inventions of science are like miracles. Unbelievable they might be, but still are facts!

Magic Wand

No magical fiction is complete without a wand. Be it Cinderella, Harry Potter; The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia; a wand is considered as an important element.

However, this is fiction. In reality, holding a wand sounds impossible. But as stated earlier, science isn't familiar with the word. If not the actual wand that doesn't work unless you chant some tongue-twisting charms, science has given us something that works exactly like an actual wand. It's called the 'Remote Control'. The only difference is that you have to press a button on your electronic wand to illuminate the room, instead of uttering 'Lumos'. A remote control might not have a phoenix feather at its tip, but it has a Light Emitting Diode (LED) that emanates electromagnetic waves which reach the appliance to be used and perform the desired action. Like in a magic wand, these waves are invisible to the naked eyes.

However, if you are looking for a wand that could turn someone into a stone, or change your attire till midnight, or delete one's memory, you'll still have to use the old-fashioned magic wand, or wait for another science miracle!

Open Sesame!

This two-word spell that first appeared in the story 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves' has made its way to the dictionaries in today's world. This spell was chanted to open the door of a cave which had a massive treasure inside. But how did the door open on the utterance of these specific words only? Well, that's what you call magic! Or the cave might have a sonograph attached to the door, which operated only when it detected the words, 'Open Sesame'.

The above described voice detection principle has recently been used to design locked doors for domestic and commercial purposes. These locks, however, focus on the frequency of sound. In other words, access would be granted only to the person whose voice matched with the programmed voice.

Nevertheless, this door-lock system is the practical example of the 'Open Sesame' legend. Science, here, has also converted fiction into reality!

Due to the groundbreaking inventions of the scientists today, we are actually experiencing that fairyland all around us! And that's the gift of the efforts made by scientists over the centuries.

But don't consider it the end, folks! A lot more is still to come. Maybe while you are reading this article, another fictionist of today - the scientist - is busy working in his laboratory, creating another gadget for this fairyland we call the world!

--Compiled by Ali Suleman


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