Opinion: Here's the technology in 'Black Panther' that's possible today - MarketWatch

Have you seen “Black Panther”?

After weeks of hype and media praise, I had prepared myself for disappointment because a large number of media-glorified Hollywood blockbusters aren’t actually that good.

But I’m happy to say I was wrong. There are two reasons why I like the movie more than other superhero flicks I’ve watched in the past couple of years, and one of them is tech. If you’ve seen the trailer, you must have noticed how amazing it is.

Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), futuristic aircraft, electromagnetic-pulse (EMP) bombs, holograms that you can touch and, of course, the amazing Black Panther suit are all shown in the trailer. There’s plenty more of it in the movie, including advanced magnetic levitation (mag-lev) trains and futuristic medical aid. In this article, we’ll see how much of it is possible in the real world.

Vibranium

Every science-fiction movie or series has a “crutch” — a special discovery or breakthrough that justifies the majority of the featured tech and explains why it’s so far beyond things we currently have.

In “Black Panther,” a production by Disney’s DIS, -0.83%  Marvel Studios, a special material named Vibranium was discovered in the form of a meteorite in Africa, in the territory of Wakanda. The people of Wakanda were smart enough to protect their extraterrestrial asset from others, and it became a cornerstone of their technological development and economic growth.

Much of their tech, including Black Panther’s suit, is made of Vibranium. The fictional metal has interesting properties: It can absorb kinetic energy and sound waves. Vibrations directed at it are stored in bonds between the molecules, strengthening the metal, and can be released in a kinetic blast that’s seen many times in the movie.

We may not have Vibranium, but we do have a special material of our own: graphene. It’s 100 times stronger than steel and has better conductive properties than copper. It could easily be embedded in futuristic body armor that would provide protection, as well as conductivity.

Vibranium remains superior because of its work-hardening and absorption properties. It’s impossible in the real world to add energy to molecular bonds without destabilizing the molecular structure, but metals that become work-hardened definitely exist.

The most powerful of these is Hadfield steel, or manganese steel. (Work-hardening means that the more force you apply to the metal, the stronger it becomes, because of the dislocation or irregularities within the crystalline structure that are generated by the manipulation.) The end result is a tougher, more resilient material.

Another interesting example is a special palladium-glass micro alloy manufactured by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. This material is not only tougher than steel, it has the best toughness-to-strength ratio. I can definitely see it used for optics and protective plating in a graphene suit.

Read: The 10 years and 17 films that led Marvel to ‘Black Panther’

Kimoyo beads

These fancy bracelets are used as communication devices and health monitors in the movie. Whether it’s talking to your relatives, monitoring your vitals or watching movies on a supersized screen, Kimoyo (the Bantu word for “of the spirit”) beads have you covered.

Want more features? Attach more beads. The explanation behind this tech is suitably vague (it involves Vibranium and can’t function outside Wakanda), but the majority of its functions can be replicated.

We already have smartphones and, thanks to augmented reality, holograms. It’s quite plausible that in the future our medical status will be constantly monitored via smart tattoos that could “talk” to other devices, brains or ocular implants, which would actually surpass the level of advancement Wakandan beads possess.

Driving ‘invisible’ cars

In one scene in the movie, Shuri (King T’Challa’s sister and a tech wiz) drives a virtual hologram based on a scan of an existing vehicle. A special device scans the car, and voila — she has a hologram-like replica that not only looks like the original, it has its functionality and appears in her lab thousands of miles away. The device acts like a fancy remote control that enables her not only to control the vehicle, but to see her surrounding as if she were driving.

This complex setup has a few elements we can replicate right away, and some that remain within the realm of sci-fi. We’ve already come up with some rather rudimentary examples of technology related to holograms you can touch. The concept is based on heating up air molecules using lasers, and turning them into plasma, i.e. light-emitting particles that can also be sensed from their vibrations. (The feeling is similar to static shock or touching sandpaper, if you’re curious).

As you can see, it’s still fairly basic, but it could be a good cornerstone for creating tactile virtual environments that one can also interact with. As for 3D scanners, we don’t have any on a Wakandian level yet, but we can scan stuff and create fairly accurate 3D models that can be used in a variety of scenarios.

The ability to attach tiny cameras to objects has existed for a while, so combining all the above features into one small device could theoretically do what Shuri did, provided we find a way to control a car and relay communication back to the remote driver. This part also seems simple enough, especially with the arrival of smart computer-driven cars that can easily be hacked into and can have low-latency internet access.

Let’s not forget the Vibranium power suit that can fit into a necklace that T’Challa wears around his neck. Since it consists not only of armor, but also functional parts like claws that the Black Panther can use to tear into stuff (and foes), and many other features, it’s safe to assume it has a complex structure.

Now, how can this structure be recreated in a matter of milliseconds from material stored within an unremarkable necklace and without an existing overlay? It could be possible because of the high relative density of Vibranium nanomachines stored within the necklace. When T’Challa needs his suit, minuscule robots are released from the necklace and assume a pre-programmed formation on his body, creating not only the protective layer, but also the infrastructure necessary for other features.

Nanorobotics today

Can we do anything similar now? Not really. Nanorobotics is still an emerging technology field with a lot of undeveloped potential, and most of the development is focused on medical uses (nanobots that deliver drugs or fight cancer and other diseases, for example). However, in the future it’s easy to imagine these minuscule machines being programmed to assume various spatial configurations and to mimic different objects or even materials (if they’re small enough).

In other words, once we figure out how to create small enough nanobots that have ultra-high relative density (which would enable them to fit into very small containers), the ability to generate all the power they need within their subsystems and to mimic graphene or carbyne, we’ll be able to create a suit that may compare to Black Panther’s … and so much more.

There is plenty more amazing sci-fi tech showcased throughout the movie (such as cloaking the entire country in a thermo-isolating hologram dome), but for the sake of brevity, I’d like to stop here.

Finally, if you’ve read this piece carefully (of course you did), you noticed that I mentioned two reasons for liking this movie. The other reason is the values it promotes, such as forgiveness, unity and the love for your country. Many nations around the world lack these values nowadays, which results in infighting, division and being taken advantage of by foreign adversaries. I wish more country leaders, including my own, would watch this movie and internalize some of its values for the greater good of their citizens. But that’s a topic for another time.

So, which of these tech advancements do you find the most impressive? Please let me know in the comment section below.

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