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How The Science Behind Rick And Morty Is Creeping Into Real Life

Brandon Michaels
Updated October 14, 2018 46.4K views 15 items

Rick and Morty explores a lot of classic sci-fi tropes, like faster-than-light space travel, exploring alternate realities, and building an amusement park inside of a homeless man. So how accurate is the science behind Rick and Morty plots? Well... not very, but there are bits of truth to every episode.

It's possible to disagree with science. If some committee of fancy a**holes disagree about something, you can disagree back. What you can't do is just add a sci-fi word to another word and hope it means something. Ah, references. 

The entire show is built off of the premise of multiple dimensions, all of which are slight to radical variations of our own. This concept is called the Many Worlds Interpretation in the scientific community, and it has been an area of exploration since the 1950s.

The science behind Rick and Morty may be exaggerated, but it's still a core part of the narrative. Some of the best jokes in the series are derived from complex real world ideas and theories. While you may not have noticed it, that basis in reality really grounds the series and gives it some much needed weight. Not that everything is, like, super serious of course. 

Sometimes, science is more art than science. Not a lot of people get that...

  • 1

    "A Rickle In Time" Exploits Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

    "A Rickle In Time" Exploits Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

    Rick and Morty's Season 2 premiere, "A Rickle In Time," is pretty crazy. Like, bananas in fact. Basically, Rick, Morty, and Summer get removed from time and split reality into multiple pieces. The entire episode is based on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which states that you can never know the exact position and exact speed of an object. See, if you measure something's position, its speed changes, and vice versa. 

    By trying to measure their exact place and speed in space and time, they removed themselves from time all together.

  • 2

    The Show Constantly Brings Up The Many Worlds Theory

    The Show Constantly Brings Up The Many Worlds Theory

    The concept of an infinite multiverse basically allows Rick and Morty to do whatever they want. You know, like that time they destroyed the world with a terrible virus and had to travel to another universe so they could basically kill themselves and take their (own) places.

    The concept of parallel universes is nothing new, and has actually been around since the '50s. The Many Worlds Theory suggests that every time a new event occurs, multiple universes are created to reflect all of the possible outcomes. 

  • 3

    No Sh*t, DNA Is Super Complicated

    No Sh*t, DNA Is Super Complicated

    In "Rick Potion #9," Rick tries to create a serum that will make Jessica fall in love with Morty, but he accidentally turns her (and everyone else) into a giant praying mantis monster instead.  

    To quote the man himself, "Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. Mantises are the opposite of voles? I think DNA is a little more complicated than that, Morty. This should do the trick! Koala mixed with chimpanzee, rattlesnake, cactus, shark, golden retriever, and just a smidge of dinosaur." Modern scientists would probably argue that DNA is even more complicated still.  

  • 4

    Roy Is Basically The Simulated Universe Theory

    Roy Is Basically The Simulated Universe Theory

    In "Mortynight Run," Rick and Morty ditch their responsibilities and spend some time at Blips and Chits playing Roy, a virtual reality simulation game where you play as a guy named Roy, who lives a totally normal life.

    Not only is virtual reality gaming blowing up, but some scientists have theorized that our entire reality is actually nothing more than a computer simulation. What if we're all just characters being controlled by different people at some crazy outer space arcade? Could be worse, really. Life could be totally meaningless.

  • 5

    Rick's Space Ship Runs On Concentrated Dark Matter

    Rick's Space Ship Runs On Concentrated Dark Matter

    Rick may have built his spaceship from stuff he found lying around in the garage, but it's actually powered by a very sophisticated concentrated dark matter engine. Back in 2009, scientists discovered that dark matter engines might actually be the key to unlocking long distance space travel in the future. Unfortunately, it's only only a theory at this point.

  • 6

    "Anatomy Park" Might One Day Be A Reality

    "Anatomy Park" Might One Day Be A Reality

    The Fantastic Voyage trope is nothing new to the realm of sci-fi. It originated in 1966 with the eponymous Fantastic Voyage. Magic School Bus did it. Futurama did it. Hell, even the Rugrats did it. Everyone who's anyone has shrunk down to enter someone else's body at one point or another. 

    But there might actually be some truth to the trope. Microscopic machines have been used to travel inside a living animal, and this technology could one day be used to deliver drugs in humans.