Science or science fiction? Research that reads like something out of a book 2025

Long before the first robot hoover existed, the laws that would shape its relationship with humans had already been imagined. Almost a century before Sputnik 1 became the first artificial satellite in history, someone had dreamt it up in the pages of a book. Even cloning and the ‘de-extinction’ of species were conceived in the mind of a writer before science labs. Throughout history, science fiction has fuelled the imagination of researchers on countless occasions, driving advances that have come to change the world.

The laws of robotics in Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot (1950), space flight in Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and genetic engineering in H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896) are just three examples of how, sometimes, reading the future is the first step towards creating it.

On the occasion of World Book Day, we explore how some of the most disruptive developments supported by CaixaResearch are turning ideas that previously only existed in science fiction into fact.

Mimicking nature to improve health

Living on a desert planet may seem impossible for a being composed of 70% water. But by observing the behaviour of native species and with the help of technology, the protagonists of Frank Herbert’s Dune saga end up designing a system of cities, suits and devices that allow them to make the most of the scarce humidity present in the environment. The fusion of biology and technology reflects the principle of biomimicry: learning from nature to resolve complex challenges. This approach continues to inspire a large number of innovations in health, such as new treatments for cancer and neurological regeneration.

In the search for new ways to deliver cancer treatments to brain tumour cells, a team of researchers at Gate2Brain, a spin-off from Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, IRB Barcelona and the University of Barcelona, found the inspiration in a book. Led by Dr. Meritxell Teixidó, who received support from RecerCaixa, CaixaImpulse Validate and CaixaImpulse Consolidate, the researchers create shuttle peptides (small proteins) that act as molecular shuttles capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier and take drugs directly to the brain parenchyma. The idea of crossing this barrier to cure a body had already been dreamt up by Isaac Asimov in The Fantastic Voyage (1966), when a team of miniaturised scientists were placed inside a body to repair a blood clot in the brain. Written before scientists knew such a biological barrier even existed, the book, with astonishing precision, anticipated a goal that is finally being achieved today thanks to the research carried out by Gate2Brain.