AI Applications
This tech company developed the AI model Gemini to power its search engine capabilities.
In the Iron Man films, this AI assistant helps Tony Stark operate his suit and provides real-time data and analysis during combat.
J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System)
The primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope is comprised of 18 individual gold mirrors in this shape.
Hexagon
This is the year when the programming language now widely used in AI development—Python—was first released.
1991
Famously featured in the movie Jaws, this apex predator can evert its stomach—turning it inside out—to clean out indigestible contents.
Great White Shark
As of 2025, this spacecraft is the farthest human-made object in space.
Voyager 1
This subfield of AI—called NLP, for short—focuses on enabling machines to understand, interpret, and generate human language.
Natural Language Processing
In the film Doctor Strange, the hero’s magical powers are loosely inspired by this theory in physics, which proposes that the universe’s fundamental building blocks are not point-like particles, but tiny, vibrating one-dimensional strings.
String theory
Launched in 1999, the Chandra Space Telescope detects this type of high-energy radiation, which is used to create images of black holes, supernova remnants, and other cosmic phenomena.
X-Rays
The “expert system” MYCIN, an early application of AI designed to diagnose bacterial infections and recommend treatments, was developed during this decade.
1970s
To communicate with NASA in the film The Martian, Dr. Mark Watney repurposes the lander from this 1997 Mars mission.
(Mars) Pathfinder
In 1975 and 1982, the Soviet Union’s “Venera” probes captured the only panoramic photos in existence on this planet’s surface.
Venus
ChatGPT is based on GPT models, which use neural networks—computer systems inspired by the human brain—to understand and generate language. What does GPT stand for?
Generative Pre-Trained Transformer
The lightsabers in the Star Wars films were inspired by laser technology, which is based on this scientific principle—also what the word “laser” stands for.
Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
In 2024, this spacecraft captured the closest-ever images of the Sun and its atmosphere, from 3.8 million miles away.
Parker Solar Probe