Nearly 60 years ago, the original Star Trek series ignited a dream in the public’s imagination: that one day, people would travel the galaxy in ships propelled by faster-than-light “warp drives.”

The idea that future humans could hop in a vessel and arrive at a distant star system that afternoon soon became a staple of science fiction, not just in Star Trek but in dozens of other movies, TV shows, and books beloved by generations of fans.

Many of those fans were children who would grow up to become scientists. And today, some of those scientists are bending spacetime itself to bring warp drive closer to reality.

( The farthest journey in human history is about to begin .)

For decades, most physicists considered warp drive to be impossible. But in the past few years, theoretical

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