What can a scientist in my Star Wars fan fic be researching?

[Maximum7]

Im trying to write an RPG profile about a scientist who is working on something in the era of the New Republic. He does not believe in the Force. I just need something for him to be researching. It really isn’t that important to the story; it just has to sound cool and scientific.It can NOT be game-changing or something that can alter the story in a dramatic way Also it can’t have already been done in Legends or Canon. I want a fresh idea.

It cannot be

- A time machine

-A teleporter

-A matter replicator

-A singularity Weapon

- Any type of droid

-Anything to do with holograms

-A food synthesizer

- Anything to do with the Force or Midi-chlorians

- A shrink ray

-A freeze ray

-pico and femtotechnology

-A Dyson sphere or any type of megastructure.

-Liquid metal armor or a nano morph

-Any improvements on the hyperdrive

-Limb regeneration

-Hyperspace nullifier

-Holodeck

- Knowledge Transfer (Instant learning like in the Matrix)

-Philosophers Stone

-Kinetic weapons

-Solar sail

-Anything to do with kyber crystals

-Gene editing

-Mech suit

-Exosuit

-Gender change



In canon, during the Empire, scientists were researching methods to control droids, lasers that can punch through deflector shields and ship scale disintigrators. These ideas are therefore taken.

[Forest_Dump]

I would naturally say archaeology but Picard was into that. How about something to do with evolution like evolution following Terra forming or the Evolution onot other planets?

[Maximum7]

Picard is Star Trek

I was down to 3 ideas. A Guided recirprocating deflector shield from someone on abovetopsecret forums, Synthetic coaxium from FFG forums and The Dynamics of an Asteroid Field on Sjgames. I decided against the shield because it was too wordy and could be a game changer. The coaxium I felt ruined the rarity of hyperfuel and the asteroid belt analyzation was good but their are likely billions of asteroid fields in the galaxy. Who the hell cares about plotting one.

[Serpent]

Star Wars has science?

[bangstrom]

Star Wars has science?

Star Wars starts with science and goes from there. I am not a Treckie because I don't think fantasy should be any part of science fiction.

[Serpent]

Star Wars starts with science and goes from there. I am not a Treckie because I don't think fantasy should be any part of science fiction.

Really? Why not?
How do you distinguish one fictional space-opera from another? What makes one fictional setting/world/scenario acceptable and another unacceptable.
I don't just mean those two franchises (e.g. where instances of fantasy in one that's absent from the other), but would be interested in how you classify any other popular movies, tv series and books/authors.

[Forest_Dump]

I think the Star Trek series uses some science-like language but the Stars Wars movies are all swords and sorcery with no implied science. There is a lot of reasonably good Sunday afternoon time wasting stuff but no science in Star Wars that I ever saw. Maybe the odd bit of wondering if any kind of Darwinian selection could have come up with some of the critters but that's about it.

[Serpent]

I was never a fan of the Star Wars dynasty. I enjoyed the first movie for what it was: a swashbuckling adventure story. (Reminiscent of The Princess Bride, cttoi) and I liked Yoda. Then I lost interest. Too loud.

It's true that The Next Generation and Voyager used a lot of science-like jargon, without explaining any of it. The original Star Trek series hardly bothered at all: it was about the why and should of things, not the how is it done. DS 9 was more technically credible, if only because of superior graphics, without dwelling on the technology.
(I didn't have much use for the Star Trek movies - extended episodes, really - and the prequel sucked.)

Star Gate seemed to be more into science, but also more into military gear and stomping about, which I'm not, so I haven't followed it.

Babylon 5 is a complex, quite absorbing epic, in which the technology is mere background again.

Doctor Who didn't care about being believable - and didn't need to be. But Torchwood lacked the charm to carry off that cavalier attitude to reality.

Ascension was completely believable from the science pov.

Salvation started out interesting but quickly deteriorated into mayhem, intrigue and treachery - disappointing.

Fringe and X-Files were wierdly-sciency without taking it too seriously.

I can't think of a sci-fi series that was actually about the science. Some movies, like The Martian and Apollo XIII, yes, and well done. Some documentary series like Cosmos (grudgingly, I admit the remake was, too) are both entertaining and have adult science content.

But mostly, I think they're intended as entertainment, and the scientific aspect is by-the-way or fantastical. I'm okay with that, as long as they don't try to fob me off with anti-science.

[bangstrom]

Star Wars starts with science and goes from there. I am not a Treckie because I don't think fantasy should be any part of science fiction.

Really? Why not?
How do you distinguish one fictional space-opera from another? What makes one fictional setting/world/scenario acceptable and another unacceptable.
I don't just mean those two franchises (e.g. where instances of fantasy in one that's absent from the other), but would be interested in how you classify any other popular movies, tv series and books/authors.

I enjoy fiction as fiction, but when it comes to science fiction, I prefer SF that adheres to the tenets of known science and limits its speculation to things that either are possible now or might be possible in the future. I prefer SF as that written by authors who have done their research and can weave their knowledge into a fascinating narrative around a good ‘what if’ speculation that leaves me with a sense of wonder. This is generally known as “hard” SF as opposed to “soft” SF or fantasy.
Stories about dragons and sword and sorcery are not my thing.

Ridley Scott’s film “The Martian” or the book “The Three Body Problem” by Ci-Xin Lio are two recent examples of SF that I found to be entertaining to contemplate even after the movie or book has ended.

[TheVat]

I can't think of a sci-fi series that was actually about the science....

A television drama, like all drama, is essentially about character. That said, Orphan Black had a refreshing amount of genomics and molecular biology in it. It helped that its storyline was firmly rooted in the present day. I would not recommend the Canadian series for learning about genetic science, however, as is I would not recommend any sci-fi franchise in that regard. These shows can only be a spur towards pursuing an interest in current research. Not that they need to be.

I also enjoyed the bits of cosmology and astrophysics occasionally sprinkled into a Dr Who episode, like the Peter Capaldi one where a spaceship is near a black hole and times moves at distinct rates on different levels of the ship. Yes, i know tidal forces would have torn the ship to pieces.

[Serpent]

The only Orphan Black I happened to catch was a scene where some horrible man was terrorizing a girl - flat-out sadistic. I have no use for torture, whatever the context, so I never went back. I also boycott anything that starts out in that grey-blue-shiny-grey atmosphere they seem to think is high tech.
Seems like every tv drama degenerates into violence and nastiness.
Touch started out promising (not very sciency, but intriguing concept) and then it was all about 'oo killed 'oo.
*sigh*

[TheVat]

Yeah that's a problem for the show. 98% of it didn't involve torture, and was more a drama about sisters and dealing with the exploitation of a corporate cabal, but those violent scenes drove off some who weren't already invested in the characters. I also admit to a soft spot for Tatiana Maslany and her bravura performance, playing a half dozen characters, and making each seem so real.

Touch, with Kiefer S and the autistic boy? I remember bailing on that. I just remember it didn't quite work for me. It may have had some of the problems that "Numbers" had, as in you can't solve every case with a handy math genius. That said, I watched a lot of Numbers episodes because the problem solving did suck me in.

[Serpent]

Touch, with Kiefer S and the autistic boy? I remember bailing on that. I just remember it didn't quite work for me. It may have had some of the problems that "Numbers" had, as in you can't solve every case with a handy math genius. That said, I watched a lot of Numbers episodes because the problem solving did suck me in.

At first, and what I found intriguing, Touch wasn't about problem-solving or calculation. It was something like a mystical web of coincidence connecting diverse people all over the globe, with this poignantly isolated little boy at the center of it all. What I liked was the individual stories and how the father had to connect them to make everything come out right for complete strangers. (He's a pretty decent chip off the redoubtable old block, too, is our Kiefer.) I also liked the little Japanese girls. After the first murder, it was all downhill; the original charm only ever surfaced again in brief moments.

Numbers was a different matter. I found the math - statistics, mainly - acceptable in context, though over-complicated in the presentation. I did like some of the problems (crime-junkie, me: forensic science gets into the blood), but mostly I stuck around for the characters and their evolving relationships. Good writing and acting never hurt a television show.

I might give the orphans another look; I think you can stream it on CBC. Saturday night is an entertainment desert, my hand is injured, and outside is too damn cold.

[Maximum7]

I’m making one last round on all the forums I posted on. I’m looking for something highly advanced.

[TheVat]

Augmented dogs that serve as psychiatrists.

[Maximum7]

I’m going about this all wrong. I need an advanced but totally BORING detail intensive thing for my scientist to be studying. I WANT to start my story and this detail is unimportant. Does anyone have some science gooblegook that sounds coherent that I can use?