The Science of Iron Man

holy_calamity writes "New Scientist takes a look at the evidence-base behind the science and technology in the new blockbuster Iron Man, and finds it is pretty solid. From exoskeletons to real-time translation there are at the very least proof-of-concept demonstrations of pretty much all the glitzy tech the hero Tony Stark uses."

Comments

Re:This is one of the reason I want to see this mo

[Ephemeriis]

A real life mach 2 engine is much larger than a man. That is certainly true... But it is also irrelevant.

If you go back a couple dozen years it was outright impossible to build an engine capable of mach 2. We didn't have the science or technology to make it happen. It was maybe a glimmer in some technician's imagination, but that's it.

And before that we didn't even have the ability to fly at all.

Today we have cell phones with more processing power than an entire building full of computers a few years back.

We've got tiny motors in toys and gizmos that were also flat-out impossible a few years back.

Sure, by today's standards Iron Man is completely impossible, but that really doesn't mean much. I'm not claiming that such a thing will ever actually be possible... But claiming that our current understanding of science and technology is as good as it is ever going to get is awfully arrogant.