When worlds collide: science or science fiction?

The discovery, reported this week, of a faster-than-light neutrino shows just how easily the line between science and science fiction can become blurred. Equally, to the uninitiated, the language of science can be indistinguishable from the language of science fiction. We all know, alas, that Superman does not really exist, but how about the kryptonite which is his Achilles heel? And did clones appear in science fiction before Dolly the sheep’s double came into existence?

To confuse matters even further, as the speculative fiction of yesterday inspires the new technologies of tomorrow, words that were coined to refer to something fictional can become part of everyday (real) life. But are you able to tell which words originated in science fiction and which in science fact? Take our interactive quiz and find out!

Posted on: September 30 2011 | Categories: Competitions and quizzes, Interactive features | Tags: , , , , , ,

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  • Literat

    It feels like sometimes you are saying right = belongs to scientific nomenclature, and sometimes you are saying right = comes from scientific research.Which are different. I didn’t really know if I was coming or going, and not for, imo, lack of knowledge. But thanks anyway.

  • Sebastian

    Excellent prcatice to update vocabulary

  • http://beamjockey.livejournal.com/ Bill Higgins– Beam Jockey

    Of the phrase attibuted to him in the quiz (I’m being cagey here to avoid spoiling the quiz), Jack Williamson wrote, “I used to believe the phrase was my own invention, in a story published in 1951, but the OED has found it in a scientific paper dated a little earlier.” See his 1984 autobiography WONDER’S CHILD, page 275 of the 2005 BenBella Books edition (which is searchable in Google Books). So Williamson believed that the phrase came from science, not SF, though he invented it independently.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Caspar-William/563987133 Caspar William

    Science fiction is always culturally forward thinking; its innovative and epic.

  • Mookkan@Raju

    This is effectively useful

  • Hipeoples

    weird…

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