Question 2 of 21

Which of the following was predicted by science fiction writer Jules Verne decades before its actual invention?

... In one of his books, Jules Verne talks about the "phonotelephote," which sounds eerily similar to videoconferencing, such as Skype. According to Verne, people would access a device that would transmit images over distances so they could converse while seeing each other "as if through a glass window."

Question 3 of 21

Which of the following is NOT a real invention being used in medicine, but still the stuff of fiction?

... Nanorobots are already in use in medicine, especially to target cancer cells. The microscopic robots deliver the drugs. Exoskeleton suits also are in use; they can be strapped to the legs of paraplegics to help them walk again. They could, in theory, replace wheelchairs, but they're too expensive ($100,000) to be standard solutions for mobility. It's possible to screen for and modify a baby's genetics, but ethics have kept the availability of genetically designed, or "designer babies," at bay.

Question 4 of 21

Ford sells a car that can perform a task once thought only possible in fiction. What is it?

... The self-parking technology is an add-on available for certain luxury models. And yes, once you press the appropriate button, the car's ultrasonic sensors and self-steering technology find a way to park the car between vehicles, against the curb and even on an inclined terrain.

Question 5 of 21

Did writer H.G. Wells predict the invention of the cell phone?

... In his 1933 book "The Shape of Things to Come," Wells talks about a society that communicates using wrist intercoms. He doesn't call these devices "phones," but they operate much like modern cell phones, down to many features such as being wireless.

Question 6 of 21

Despite the capabilities shown in fiction, the world's most advanced robots still CANNOT do what?

... The most advanced robots can answer questions and have vocabularies of about 3,000 words. They cannot, however, maintain conversations about topics they're not programmed for.

Question 7 of 21

Which of the following inventions, currently undergoing testing, could revolutionize the lives of people with diabetes (just as science fiction books predicted a few decades ago)?

... Scientists at the University of Western Ontario have developed special lenses that change color when the patient's blood sugar goes up. The lenses react to the glucose that's present in patients' tears.

Question 8 of 21

Which invention, popular in fiction, is still light-years away from becoming reality?

... The military has beam weapons -- basically, ray guns. And soldiers also use advanced, armed robots. Although there are numerous robots that can mimic human movement and looks, however, we're a far cry away from a cyborg that can blend into society and pass for human.

Question 9 of 21

Which one of the following incredible actions is possible today, not just in sci-fi novels and films, but in reality?

... Teleportation might not be available at your state fair or mall kiosk, but it's at least possible at a subatomic level. In 2005, scientists from Austria and the U.S. worked together to transfer information among atoms. Just to be clear, they didn't actually transfer an atom from one place to another. Instead, they replicated the information within the atom, creating an exact copy of it at the receiving end. A human being who wants to be teleported wouldn't "beam up" from one place to another. Instead, he or she would appear on the receiving end as an exact copy of the original.

Question 10 of 21

Which of the following is not nearly as exciting (and doesn’t work as well) in real life as it does in fiction?

... Real jet packs are nothing like the fictional flying packs. Yes, they shoot you into the air -- for an entire 30 seconds. We're a far cry away from flying around like James Bond.

Question 11 of 21

A combined-flying driving vehicle is called many things, but in reality, the flying car is:

... In 2011, Terrafugia started selling its flying cars for the tidy sum of $250,000. About 100 had been sold, but none had yet been delivered as the company put the final touches on production. The cars should hit the road (and the air) at the beginning of 2012. Terrafugia is Latin for "escape from land."

Question 12 of 21

Although author Jules Verne wasn't the first person to talk about submarines, he was the first to mention this type:

... The electric submarine Verne talked about in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" became a reality in 1964, almost 100 years after the book's first edition was published.

Question 13 of 21

The idea for the electronic translator "Babel Fish" first came from:

... The translator now used by Yahoo! (and originally by Alta Vista) was named after the character (Babel Fish) in Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide." The small, yellow fish lived on brain wave radiation. In the book, sticking one in your ear could help you understand any form of language spoken to you.

Question 14 of 21

Which writer described the invention and use of the first spacecraft (in eerily accurate details) 104 years before it happened?

... Among many similarities of Jules Verne's depiction with the real 1969 moon landing were the launch site (Florida), the number of people onboard the spacecraft (three), the physical dimensions of the launching base and projectile and the recovery method (U.S. Navy ships picking up the returning craft from the ocean).

Question 15 of 21

What popular tech gadget was "described" in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey?

... In Clarke's novel, which was developed alongside Stanley Kubrick's film, he describes a device that "plugs into the ship's circuit" to search headlines. The device has a postage-sized rectangle that expands to fit the screen. Clarke called it a "newspad." The iPad debuted in January 2010.

Question 16 of 21

The ability to cryopreserve (freeze and unfreeze) people has been mentioned in science fiction and time-travel movies for years. What's the state of human cryopreservation?

... Cryopreservation is suspended between reality and fantasy. It's possible to cryopreserve people but not to revive them. People who are preserved with cryogenics agree to it (before dying) in the hopes that future technology can safely bring them out of their frozen states.

Question 17 of 21

Scientist Nikola Tesla claimed he had created this, but died before he could demonstrate a prototype. Plans for a model were never found in his office and nobody has been able to re-create the invention since then. Still, it's played an important role in many fictional stories over the past 100 years.

... According to Tesla, a particle beam weapon or "death ray" would be able to generate so much energy that it could actually demolish matter in seconds.

Question 18 of 21

What Jules Verne described as "atmospheric advertisements" became reality in the form of ________ .

... Verne talked about advertising written in the sky using smoke, much like skywriting.

Question 19 of 21

Which of H.G. Wells' ideas -- from fiction -- could become reality soon?

... Scientists are working on an "invisibility cloak" and have managed to create one that can hide microscopic objects. A wearable cloak may not be in the works soon, but invisibility is not out of the realm of possibility, either.

Question 20 of 21

Which of the following, at least in theory, could be possible?

... Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking believes time travel could happen if we could learn how to use wormholes. Of course, today's brightest geniuses still have no idea on how to use them, so it's not likely to happen tomorrow, which could become yesterday. . .

Question 21 of 21

Space tourism, once the stuff of fiction, will be possible…

... Space travel is here, that is if you have $20 million to spare. Board the Russian Soyuz spacecraft and head to the International Space Station for up to seven days. And in rural New Mexico, taxpayers and Richard Branson have invested millions in a commercial spaceport -- they've already sold some tickets, but it could be two years before the first flight takes off. At $200,000, you can experience space for a lot less than the space station trip, but it's only a two-and-a-half hour flight and a total of four minutes in outer space.

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