Superpowers, how do they work?

Photo Courtesy of Unsplash

Photo Courtesy of Unsplash

Jocelyn Lawson

   Supernatural abilities are a concept that has enamored and awed the public for generations. From our media such as movies and comics to print and ideas of fantasy. The real question is how these special powers would scientifically and conceptually work. Well, I’ve put a lot of thought and passion into this topic and with the help of scientific studies, I’ll explain my ideas.

   To begin to understand the physics of superpowers, one must open their mind to the future of technology, psychological manipulation, the scientific bend of space and time, and the theories of multiple dimensions or pocket spaces. Though it may sound like science fiction, these ideas are highly rooted in modern psychics, chemistry, astronomy, and astrophysics with the introduction of quantum mechanics and theory.

   “However, the discovery of quantum mechanics in the last century has left puzzling implications in its wake, particularly in relation to the status of local realism, which asserts that effects are local in the sense of propagating no faster than the speed of light and physical properties are real irrespective of whether they are measured or not,” Joan A. Vaccaro of the Royal Society said.

   Now, the first superpower I would like to explain is super speed: 

   This extremely common ability is actually one of the most simple to scientifically explain and with some time is very possible. When one uses the ability of super speed the key is to manipulate the human perception of time, specifically in those around them. As you manipulate their perception of time they will perceive the world much slower than your own, but to each party, their own time will seem normal. With your time perception being quicker than theirs they will perceive you as much faster and you’ll perceive them much slower. Think of any Quicksilver scene. 

   Physical super speed, at least as we know it, would not be optimal or possible for the current human body as the amount of heat produced and the general pressure a body would feel would cause a human to shut down fast.

   “A core body temperature of 104 F (40 C) or higher, obtained with a thermometer, is the main sign of heatstroke,” Mayo Clinic said. 

   When one runs, they heat to lose calories. With an intense run, you’d heat up a lot, so as one runs with super speed they would essentially burn alive.

   The next superpower that could be achieved in the near future with the help of bioscience and geneticists is regeneration or “super-healing”: 

   The explanation for this one is very simple and easily verifiable with quick searches. The key is stem cells. In the future, it’s probable we will find a way to manufacture stem cell substitutes or a way to hyper-accelerate stem cell mitosis.

   “Stem cell research offers unprecedented opportunities for developing new medical therapies for debilitating diseases and a new way to explore fundamental questions of biology. Stem cells are unspecialized cells that can self-renew indefinitely and also differentiate into more mature cells with specialized functions.” The National Research Council and Institute of Medicine said according to the book “Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine”.
  On the other hand, this next power would be the most futuristic and difficult to explain. Teleportation is a matter of twisted space but not twisted time:

   The easiest way to explain teleportation is to think of the user as being able to enter a pocket space or alternate dimension of their same area. Everything would be the same as before they entered the space, but it would be frozen and they would be unable to physically interact with anything or anyone. The individual with teleportation would then be able to take their time to move to whatever new space they want to go to, free of time constraints, or stress, and exit the pocket dimension back to our ordinary world. Everyone else would just see them ‘teleport’ over. There is another explanation for teleportation, the problem is it warps space and time. That would be space being bent so two different points have a connected path.

  “In analogy, consider an ant walking across a flat sheet of paper from point A to point B. If the paper is curved through the third dimension so that A and B overlap, the ant can step directly from one point to the other, thus avoiding a long trek,” Britannica said on wormholes. 

   The main issue with this explanation of teleportation is that when space is warped you warp time as well, so you run the issue of teleporting not only to a different place but to that place at a different time.

   This concludes this article on the explanations and scientific reasoning of superpowers. Maybe when super abilities become more capable of being mainstream, future bears can use them to help the community and better the world we live in.