Advances do not come in a linear fashion. An invention comes out of a nexus of philosophy, sci fi, material science, physics, math, history, cultural freedom, necessity, ethics and more.

In a sci fi notion of creating massless matter we could open the door to both teleportation and time travel simultaneously. We are beginning to separate wave function from particle existence. Waves transmitted like light and reintroducing particle mass at another point would provide an exploitation of time and travel. Its a twofer!
This is a Jules Verne worthy insight that will work in todays science fiction. Today this can suspend belief. Tomorrow? I would have to phone a friend or buy a clue.

For me the story of a discovery is a suspenseful mystery. Mix together a couple villains, a couple heroes, a real sneaky scene, character development a tragedy and a ta da in the nick of time success, a moment of pride based on a loving promise and you have your novel. Add a cliff hanger and you have a series.