Science fiction is storytelling that explores imaginary advances in science and technology and how they might change the world. Science fiction stories often take place in the future or in distant parts of the universe, featuring spaceships, robots, time travel, alien civilizations, or inventions that don't exist yet.

What makes science fiction different from fantasy is that it tries to imagine what could happen based on science, even if we can't do it yet. A wizard casting spells is fantasy, but a scientist inventing a device that lets people teleport is science fiction. The best science fiction makes you think: “That's not possible now, but maybe someday...”

Many science fiction stories explore big questions about humanity. What would happen if robots became as intelligent as people? How would we communicate with aliens? Could time travel create impossible paradoxes? Isaac Asimov wrote science fiction about robots and created famous “laws of robotics.” Jules Verne imagined submarines and trips to the moon decades before they became real. Octavia Butler wrote science fiction examining how people might survive on other planets.

Science fiction has inspired real inventors and scientists. The communicators in Star Trek influenced the design of cell phones. Scientists working on space travel grew up reading science fiction. When you read science fiction, you exercise your imagination about what the future might hold while enjoying an engaging story.