This is some of the best research ever inspired by 'Star Wars'

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In a fantastically written research paper called "It's a Trap: Emperor Palpatine's Poison Pill," economics researcher Zachary Feinstein calculated that the Death Star cost approximately $193 Quintillion (in 2012 U.S. dollars), and the gross domestic product (GDP) of the galactic economy was roughly $4.6 Sextillion a year.

Banks in the galactic empire are likely invested in the Death Star and Feinstein estimates they hold about 60% of that mind-blowingly huge GDP. So after rebel terrorists blow up the Death Star in the Battle of Endor, Feinstein concludes they would have sent the economy into a tailspin and created biggest financial crash we've ever seen.

"In this case study we found that the Rebel Alliance would need to prepare a bailout of at least 15%, and likely at least 20%, of [GDP] in order to mitigate the systemic risks and the sudden and catastrophic economic collapse," Feinstein writes. "Without such funds at the ready, it likely the Galactic economy would enter an economic depression of astronomical proportions."

Einstein's theory of general relativity suggests that time slows down the faster you travel. It's called time dilation and scientists have already demonstrated it really happens.

In "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back," Luke and Leia are separated. Leia takes the Millennium Falcon to Cloud City, while Luke takes an X-Wing Starfighter to Dagobah to start his Jedi training with Yoda.

The Millennium Falcon can fly faster than Luke's X-Wing, so Leia’s journey yields a time dilation of about 63 days. But the journey to Dagobah is about 25 times the distance to Cloud City, so Luke is traveling at a fast speed for much longer than Leia. The students estimate his time dilation is about 701 days (1.92 years).

That means that Luke ends up about 1.75 years younger than Leia by the end of the movie.

Physicist and Wired blogger Rhett Allain figured out how much Yoda weighs based on the image above. He explained in a blog post how he did it:

Ok, so here is the plan: I am going to use Luke’s pose to estimate the mass of Yoda. This will be all about the center of mass. If the Luke-Yoda system is in equilibrium, then the center of mass for the entire system must be directly above Luke’s one hand on the ground.

The answer? Yoda weighs about 96 pounds.

Bonus: He did this with Darth Vader, too (at least 507 lbs, possibly up to 1 ton). Allain has also used physics to analyze a lot of "Star Wars" scenes.

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A team of researchers with access to one of the world's most powerful lasers tried to create a real "Star Wars" laser bolt, like the ones fired from Han Solo's iconic blaster gun.

Specifically, scientists at the Laser Centre at the University of Warsaw created a high-pulse laser that mimics a "Star Wars" laser bolt. The problem is at that speed the laser moves at the speed of light — it's too fast to see with the naked eye.

The bad news is we wouldn't be able to see Han Solo's laser blasts in real life. But the good news is they did it! That and the researchers used a high-speed camera trick to catch the pulses on film, which shows what they actually look like.

The Death Star's laser would have to be one million billion times more powerful than the most powerful laser ever fired on Earth, according to a video from the American Chemical Society.

A laser that powerful would give off so much heat that it would melt the Death Star the second it fired, chemist Raychelle Burks explained in the video.

Also, that moment where multiple laser beams converge into one (see the image above) is impossible, Burks said. Separate beams of light would just pass through each other — not clump into one ultra-powerful laser of doom.

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In "Star Wars," lots of ships, rebel bases, and even the Death Star use deflector shields to protect against laser blasts.

A group of students at the University of Leicester created a design concept for a real deflector shield — all you need is a film of super hot plasma and an electromagnetic field to hold it in place.

The problem is that people inside the shield wouldn't be able to see anything because the shield would deflect most light coming in.

It's a bitter contention among Star Wars fans — did Han Solo shoot bounty hunter Greedo first?

In "Star Wars: A New Hope," Solo has a bounty on his head because he owes Greedo's boss a lot of money. Greedo wants to cash in on that. Here's the scene, if you're curious.

The answer seems to be definitively yes, Han Solo did shoot first. But was it legal?

Lawyer Josh Gilliland dug into Model Penal Code to see if Han was justified in using deadly force in self-defense against Greedo.

Gilliland concludes that Solo had reason to conclude that Greedo was going to kill him and that his life was in immediate danger. Retreat wasn't an option since Greedo had Solo cornered in a booth.

"Applying the facts to the Model Penal Code and Common Law, then, it's clear that Han was justified in shooting first and killing Greedo," Gilliland concludes.

Some fans are dreading the "Star Wars" reboot that comes out on December 18. Some are stoked out of their minds.

A team of psychologists want to know to get to the bottom of it and figure out what kind of impact the new movie is going to have on audiences. It's called the Star Wars World Project.

"We would love for you to tell us what you know, think and feel about the forthcoming film, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS," the researchers write on the website.

"We want to hear about your anticipation (or lack thereof), the ways in which you have sought out or avoided information, your plans for watching it, and any hopes, fears or other expectations you have."

The Large Hadron Collider at the CERN lab in Europe restarted this year at a more powerful energy level than ever before.

Some people who are unfamiliar with physics think the LHC has the power to create black holes capable of swallowing up the Earth, open portals to other worlds, and other strange theories.

On April Fool's Day this year, CERN scientists decided to lean into the conspiracy theories and have a little "Star Wars"-style fun.

"Though four fundamental forces – the strong force, the weak force, the electromagnetic force and gravity – have been well documented and confirmed in experiments over the years, CERN announced today the first unequivocal evidence for the Force," CERN wrote in a fake press release. "'Very impressive, this result is,' said a diminutive green spokesperson for the laboratory."

Really the whole press release is a fun read with clever "Star Wars" references.

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Science fiction like "Star Wars" shows up in real scientific research all the time, and the series has also inspired legitimate research.

We can't wait to see what studies the new movie brings next.