Advancements in several scientific fields lead to surprising and immediately beneficial discoveries
Recent and unexpected advancements in various scientific fields have brought increased prosperity and improved quality of life to parts of society all over New Eden.
In our last article we outlined our intent to examine the effect these advances have had on daily life, the drawbacks they have brought with them, the risks they have engendered and the resulting damage. In this instalment we will briefly go over some of the most notable ways in which these advances have been put to use. It should be noted that while development is still ongoing in the affected scientific fields, the current technological output, given the political atmosphere in New Eden, is notably of a militaristic bent, and more often than not focused on interstellar warfare.
The change most often mentioned in scientific circles, and certainly the one that seems to excite the public's imagination most, is the miniaturization of the well-known jump drive. The new technology is a combination of the existing concepts behind that drive and recently discovered spatial manipulation principles. In theory, spacefaring vessels employing this kind of module can now instantly shift themselves over distances that, while small on a celestial scale, are remarkably sizeable when normal human metrics are applied. This technology has in the past been available to only the most gargantuan of these ships, but may now about to be useable by other types.
Sadly, the loss of brilliant scientist Aghaver Xarasier may have put paid to major developments in that particular area - and the technology certainly is far from reaching a public market, if it even exists - but hopes are high that advancement in the field will continue in some fashion, and that some time in the not-too-distant future, regular human beings will be able to teleport items, and perhaps even living material, over vast distances on planetary surfaces.
Hopes have already been realized in several other fields of scientific inquiry. There have been reports of specialized defensive nodes that, coupled with chameleonic self-assemblers, are able to withstand all manners of incoming damage - a boon and potential lifesaver for any number of interstellar colonies located in environmentally (or politically) hostile habitats. Other reports include multi-node quantum entanglement nets between unmanned drones and their control computers, a development that would allow the drones much greater accuracy calculations and could potentially assist organizations like the Sisters of EVE in saving countless more lives during rescue missions in inhospitable areas. The uses for these new technologies appear to be endless.
The same attitude of untapped potential - and rather happily puzzled surprise - permeates any conversation The Scope has had with its sources. Even though the various technologies have immediately been put to use in the great ongoing wars, seeing such varied uses as improved resistance to incoming fire, increased damage from unmanned drones, and even a reputed counter-technology against the fabled teleport module, there is a pervading belief that it will lead to good things for ordinary people as well. Whether or not this belief is part of the familiar wartime optimism that arises during hard times is a question that may only be answered by historians.