The idea of tractor beams, concentrated rays of energy used to trap and move objects at a distance, was first introduced in science fiction. A group of physicists from the University of Adelaide, Australia, and the Université de Limoges, France, however are trying to make them a reality. But don’t get too excited, current …

Game of Thrones fans hoping that showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss might spend more time in Westeros will have to visit a galaxy far, far away instead after Disney signed the pair for a series of Star Wars flicks. Details are scarce: Disney's only said the pair will "write and produce" a "series" of indeterminate length …

2017 saw two major cinematic milestones of different extremes. One was the mega release of Blade Runner 2049, the originally unplanned sequel to, yes, Blade Runner. The other was the more overlooked anniversary of the vastly smaller Tron. Blade Runner 2049 review: Scott's vision versus Villeneuve's skill READ MORE They were a …

Purveyor of, er, marital aids Geeky Sex Toys this month released a "Star Toys" range, a series of intimate tools for him and her brought lovingly to life in the shape of characters from the Star Wars franchise. The battery operated devices hit online shelves to coincide with the release of The Last Jedi, the latest instalment …

Europe's second largest cinema, Cineworld, is struggling to meet demand for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Fans have taken to Twitter to complain of difficulties booking their tickets for its December 14 release. You website is down? Seriously how can you not have the servers ready for a massive movie like this and a surge of …

Square-jawed chunk of hunk Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame is to play everyone's favourite bounty botherer from a galaxy far, far away – Boba Fett. But before you get too excited at the prospect of Hamm's retro charm smouldering from beneath the taciturn killer's helmet in any of Disney's gazillion upcoming Star Wars films, this is …

Disney has revealed plans to create a wretched hive of scum and villainy adjacent to one of its theme parks. If the “wretched …” phrase sounds familiar, it's probably because you remember it from Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope. The phrase was used by Obi-Wan Kenobi to describe Mos Eisley, a spaceport on the planet Tatooine …

PollA bloke was arrested after a shouting match with a pal over Star Wars versus Star Trek led to blood being spilled. Jerome Dewayne Whyte, 23, was collared by Oklahoma police at 6pm on July 1 after he and his roommate argued about the relative merits of the snooty space opera versus the sci-fi merchandizing vehicle turned …

Star Wars New Hope @ 40Two years ago, the helmet of an Empire Strikes Back stormtrooper fetched $120,000 (£92,736) at US auction. An Imperial TIE fighter pilot's helmet, said to be one of just 12 made for A New Hope, went the following year for £180,000 ($233,244) – something the BBC's Antiques Roadshow presenter Fiona Bruce dismissed as a "piece of …

Star Wars New Hope @ 40The opening sequence of Star Wars is designed to give you a jolt. It's heightened by those moments after the legend "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." has faded, leaving you sitting in a silent, pitch-black cinema auditorium. Then kapow – without warning you are blinded by the iconic logo at full screen and made to …

Star Wars New Hope @ 40In the 40 years since the release of the original Star Wars, special effects have changed beyond recognition. Computers – critical to today's generation of Star Wars successors – were relatively rare during the mid 1970s. Expensive and huge, they were the preserve of governments, universities and big corporations. Personal …

Star Wars New Hope @ 40When Lucasfilm recently unveiled its tribute reelto the late Carrie Fisher, one of the most memorable monologues in cinema sat right in its center. “General Kenobi. Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars... Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire...” Reading those words, we can see the …

Well-connected security biz FireEye is claiming Chinese hackers are trying to break into South Korea's military to halt the deployment of an anti-ballistic weapons system in the country. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, FireEye's director of cyber-espionage analysis John Hultquist said his organization – which is …

Disney CEO Bob Iger has told a conference that the company is contemplating “what could be another decade and a half of Star Wars stories. Iger dropped that tantaliser at the SCALE: The Future of Tech and Entertainment event in Los Angeles on Thursday. Iger's talk was witnessed and chronicled by entertainment industry bible …

VidThe United States' long series of attempts to shoot down missiles in flight have delivered failures-a-plenty, but last week the Friday the Missile Defense Agency was able to reveal a successful test. Conducted in conjunction with Japan's Ministry of Defense and US Navy ship the USS John Paul Jones, the successful test flight …

Computer boffins Juan Echeverria and Shi Zhou at University College London have chanced across a dormant Twitter botnet made up of more than 350,000 accounts with a fondness for quoting Star Wars novels. Twitter bots have been accused of warping the tone of the 2016 election. They also can be used for entertainment, marketing …

It’s on: the fight over Rogue One or Force Awakens. Which was better? Which has the best bad character - is it calculating Commander Orson Krennic or bratty Kylo Ren? The better Death Star? Best action sequences? Droids? Haul up a chair, grab a drumstick: heads down for the sci-fi nerd Christmas lunch showdown. Sure, blast …

SPOILERSRogue One is a fine addition to the cinematic Star Wars canon, and almost perfectly tailored for Register readers to mock. For those who've avoided the hype, the film takes place between Episode III and Episode IV, and tells the tale of how Death Star plans were acquired by the Rebel Alliance. Your correspondent caught a …