Phlebotinum Du Jour: Difference between revisions

 

Here is a rough timeline of phlebotinum through the ages. The decades are very approximate -- [[Unbuilt Trope|earlier isolated examples]] may exist. Also, the expiration date of various phlebotinum varies widely; some types wear out in a decade while others are still in use thirty years after their introduction. [[Mohs Scale of Science Fiction Hardness|"Soft" sci-fi]] can get away with using scientific theories that "hard" sci-fi has given up on, and of course a particularly clever—or lazy—writer may decide to dig up some rusty old phlebotinum and [[Reconstructed Trope|put a new shine on it]], just for kicks. So isolated examples of old phlebotinum in new bottles show up from time to time even though that particular phlebotinum is well past its sell-by date.

{{examples}}

* Early Phlebotinum:

** "Junk" DNA: 95-99% of our DNA is not currently expressed as proteins. Fiction likes to repurpose it as disk space for a message from ancient alien visitors and the like. In reality what we have found so far is old genes we don't use anymore (no longer being, say, fish), ancient malware (viral retrotransposons), code that indirectly controls gene expression, "introns" in the middles of genes that make it harder for viral DNA to latch on to them, and information-poor repeating sections we still don't understand but which might be as unglamorous as physical spacers to aid the gene expression pathway.

** Relatedly, epigenetics might go this way (what with the hype about it in the popular press).

** [[Magical Particle Accelerator|Particle Acclerators]]. In particular, the LHC.