NASA may engage a warp drive...

In the recent film Star Trek Into Darkness, the crew of the Enterprise uses a warp engine to move faster than the speed of light. This would normally not be allowed by the laws of physics, specifically Einstein's theory of relativity. However, the limitations from the theory of relativity make it impossible to accelerate past the speed of light limit, but there do exist some intriguing workarounds (in theory, at least).

One possibility is the Alcuberrie drive, which was conceptualized in 1994 as an attempt to create a realistic model for creation of a warp drive. There are now suggestions that NASA may be moving forward to create just such an engine. Dr. Harold White, the NASA physicist who explored Alcubierre's over the last couple of years has come to believe that it was feasible, says that any results that show proof of concept will help push more research in this area. He uses an example he calls the "Chicago Pile" from the middle of the last century:

"In late 1942, humanity activated the first nuclear reactor in Chicago generating a whopping half Watt -- not enough to power a light bulb," he said. "However, just under one year later, we activated a ~4MW reactor which is enough to power a small town. Existence proof is important."

Overall, this does fall in the "I'll believe it when I see it" category ... but I'll confess, this is one radical (and likely over-hyped) scientific announcement that I'dlove to be proven wrong on!