The cast of ABC's TV series FlashForward. (ABC/Bob D'Amico)
In the December 3 episode of ABC's FlashForward television drama, researchers from a fictional research organization called the National Linear Accelerator Project, purportedly located in Palo Alto, California, announced that they might have caused the worldwide blackout that killed 20 million people by conducting "proton-driven plasma-wakefield acceleration" experiments.
While this makes for enthralling TV, it's definitely not reality TV.
Researchers at the real-life SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, located very close to Palo Alto, California, do indeed conduct electron-driven plasma-wakefield experiments—but, fortunately, there's no chance their experiments will lead to death and destruction. Instead, plasma-wakefield experiments may lead to a less costly, more efficient means of accelerating particles to greater energies in the estimated 17,000 particle accelerators in everyday use around the world. These accelerators play a key role in basic science research, medical technologies, industrial processes, food preparation, and environmental cleanup—to name just a few applications.
To help viewers distinguish science fact from science fiction in the TV episode, SLAC has posted a Q&A on its Web site. Readers can also learn more about the science behind plasma-wakefield acceleration in October's edition of symmetry magazine, and about the FlashForward series in three recent symmetry stories:
The science behind FlashForward
FlashForward author Robert J. Sawyer on the LHC, Higgs, and Hollywood
FlashForward: More on the science behind the story
