Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel

Physics of the Impossible (2008) is a work of popular science, also known as pop-sci, a nonfiction genre that presents scientific information in an accessible format to appeal to a general audience. Popular science media aims to entertain as well as educate, typically through the use of informal language, humor, and simple explanations of complex subjects. Scientific communicators use many different media to disseminate popular science content, including TV shows, blogs, books, and podcasts. Often, a piece of popular science media centers on a topic relevant to current affairs or presents information through an attention-grabbing lens. Kaku’s work references many popular works of science fiction, a genre that has many of the same themes and much the same target audience as popular science.

Since the 18th century, when scientific advancements and improvements in further education led to an increasing knowledge gap between scientists and the general public, most scientific papers presenting cutting-edge research have been inaccessible to the general public. Concurrently, however, as technologies such as combustion engines, radios, and eventually the internet were developed and increasingly incorporated into everyday life, public interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields has grown.