Star Trek: 10 Huge Discoveries That No One Cared About
6. Warp Travel Damages Space
In the Next Generation episode Force of Nature, Hekaran scientists showed research to the Federation that suggested that frequent or high-speed warp travel slowly damages the fabric of spacetime and that, if nothing was done, their region of space would eventually be rendered uninhabitable.
The Federation initially rejects their finding until one scientist sacrifices herself in a warp core breach, proving that it does in fact cause substantial damage to space. The Federation immediately puts laws in place to ban travel beyond warp factor 5, except in emergencies and to restrict damaged regions of space to essential travel only.
Sounds good right? Except the Federation never actually enforces these laws. We see countless ships go past warp 5 after this episode and most of the time, there's absolutely no emergency to speak of (Voyager gets a pass). And let's not forget that Earth is a major hub of tourism with ships warping in and out of the system every second. The space around Earth should be totally decimated by now!