Everyday Antimatter

Antimatter - a mirror image of matter - is an idea so revolutionary that even its discoverer initially feared its consequences. It annihilates with ordinary matter, disappearing in a puff of energy - the ultimate scientific experiment.

This annihilation is a compelling scenario for science fiction. The first example was robots with brains having antimatter pathways.

Now antimatter is used every day in medicine for brain scans.

The excitement caused by the discovery of the positron in 1932 was felt beyond the scientific world: science fiction writers were quick to exploit the new discovery as an attractive plot device. Their imagination produced visions of antiworlds, antistars and antiuniverses, all made entirely of antimatter. Some foresaw matter-antimatter annihilation as the most powerful source of energy in the cosmos, for the propulsion of starships that could travel faster than light.

While science fiction is entertaining, it is not science. Lawrence Krauss' book 'The Physics of Star Trek' is a constructive criticism of antimatter science fiction.er fuel for real.