You're listening to Imaginary Worlds, a show about how we create them and why we suspend our disbelief.

I'm Eric Mollinsky.

You are about to walk into sort of a mad scientist lab from the 1880s.

So, here we go.

Yeah.

So, where am I right now?

This is the main laboratory.

Oh my god, this is incredible.

I actually can't say where I was.

It's a military secret, although I do love saying that it was a military secret.

I can tell you that I was at a non-descript building in central New Jersey.

It's the headquarters for the Sands Institute, which is run by Ed Scotis.

I went there to check out this amazing project that they're working on.

But, more on that later, because the first thing that struck me,

the thing that really surprised me when I got there, was Ed himself.

I mean, I was expecting to meet this no nonsense military contractor.

But, he was like a fellow geek to the nth degree.

He calls his office the main laboratory.

There's a suit of armor next to a bookcase and a model train ran along the molding of the ceiling.

The furniture was all designed in a steam punk style.

He had all this cool vintage technology.

Phonograph.

...