Fully revised and updated to include the latest discoveries in cosmic science, "the essential tubeside companion for the fans of the venerable Star Trek series" (Washington Post).

What warps when you're traveling at warp speed? What is the difference between a wormhole and a black hole? Are time loops really possible, and can I kill my grandmother before I am born?

Anyone who has ever wondered "could this really happen?" will gain useful insights into the Star Trek universe (and, incidentally, the real world of physics) in this charming and accessible guide. Lawrence M. Krauss boldly goes where Star Trek has gone--and beyond. From Newton to Hawking, from Einstein to Feynman, from Kirk to Picard, Krauss leads readers on a voyage to the world of physics as we now know it and as it might one day be....

Every atom in our bodies was once inside the fiery core of a star that exploded billions of years before our solar system was formed. Like the original Homeric epic, the atom at the center of this book makes its way across a truly cosmic stage. Exploding supernovas, solar winds, collapsing stars preceded the rise of life on earth and one day may foretell its end. Yet the story that Krauss tells is inextricably our story. Throughout this astonishing and monumental work, he manages to stoke our wonder at the powers and unlikely events that conspired to create our solar system, our eco-system and us....