9 New Technologies That Are A Sci-Fi Fan's Wet Dream

3. Deflector Shields

It's such a common sci-fi trope now that it's almost a cliche, but scientists in the real world are looking into ways to develop Star Wars style shielding to protect spacecraft.

Students at the University of Leicester wrote a paper detailing the theory behind such a force field. They proposed that a barrier of plasma placed around a ship or structure would protect it from certain kinds of radiation, including lasers. To maintain the shield, you would need to generate a strong magnetic field to keep the plasma in place.

Believe it or not, this futuristic concept was actually inspired by nature. We already make use of the same physics by bouncing communication signals off the plasma present in the ionosphere. The same concept can be used in developing deflector shields.

Beyond epic space battles, shielding technology is actually a hugely important field in space exploration in general. One of the major hurdles we'll have to overcome if we ever want to get off this godforsaken rock, is how to protect our astronauts from the massive levels of damaging radiation in space. Our planet's magnetic field already protects us down here on Earth, so using the same principles to create radiation shielding could help propel us towards the stars in future.