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Scientific Method: The Science And Stories Of Time Travel

1A

NPR

News

4.44.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Have you ever fantasized about going back in time to relive a moment — or change it?

Maybe you’re more interested in traveling to the future where cars fly and the code to immortality has been cracked.If the idea of time travel resonates with you, you’re far from alone — particularly during a year of political upheaval.

Scientists moved one step closer to understanding time travel, at least hypothetically, this year. Two physicists at the University of Queensland in Australia created a model for studying the phenomenon.

We’re not there yet. But when it comes to books, movies and TV shows, that’s a different story. We’ve been thinking about hurtling through history for a very, very long time.

Why do we return time and time again to stories about time travel? Will it ever become a reality?

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This message comes from Bayer.

0:02.3

Science is a rigorous process that requires questions, testing, transparency, and results that can be proven.

0:09.5

This approach is integral to every breakthrough Bayer brings forward.

0:13.0

Innovations that save lives and feed the world.

0:15.8

Science Delivers.com. Have you ever fantasized about going back in time to relive a moment or change it?

0:31.5

Maybe you're more interested in traveling to the future where cars fly and the code to

0:36.0

immortality has been cracked. If the idea of time

0:39.0

travel resonates with you, you're far from alone, particularly during a year of political

0:43.7

upheaval. I love the time travel series Outlander. Now watching season seven, I'm finding their

0:52.6

treatment of the American Revolutionary War period to be especially

0:56.8

timely, given the 250th anniversary of our experiment in democracy. I also have a lot of

1:03.9

Scott's blood in my ancestral lines, so the series has given me a lot of Scottish history, too.

1:10.2

I love that time travel can be a hook into understanding the past, not only one's family

1:17.7

history, but also one's beloved and democratic country.

1:22.7

Thanks for that message.

1:23.9

This year, scientists move one step closer to understanding time travel, at least

1:29.2

hypothetically. Two physicists at the University of Queensland and Australia laid out a model

1:34.2

for studying the phenomenon. So no, we're not there yet, but when it comes to books, movies,

1:39.2

and TV shows, that's a different story.

1:41.6

Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Doc.

1:47.4

Are you telling me that you built a time machine?

1:49.3

Out of a Delorean?

...

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