Living in a Star Trek world
We get several scientific magazines, like Discover and Science Week. I don’t get a chance to read everything in them, but have noticed more and more sci-fi like articles. There are things that are being done in the lab that rival what we see on shows like Star Trek. I don’t remember all the issues these items were in. Dig up some science magazines and you may even find some things I missed.
Lasers - Who would have thought 40 years ago that the laser that were seen on Star Trek would be reality now. Or that you could carry a blaster like Han Solo? We all know lasers are a reality. Not necessarily in our handheld weapons yet, but still they exist.
Lightsabers - Who wouldn’t want to swing a lightsaber like Luke or Obi-Wan? We can’t quite do that yet, but according to the recent Star Wars display at COSI in Columbus, we have the technology to create a lightsaber. The only catch is the machine to generate it would be as big as the old ENIAC machines and would take a ton of power. Again, that’s closer than we were in 1977.
Hovercraft speeders - well, we’ve probably all seen these type of machines. They aren’t parked in our garage for us to take to Toschi station yet, but we can rent them in certain places.
Spaceships - Space Shuttle, internation space station, talks of public space trips, plan to form a moon base, plans on manned trip to Mars. OK, there we go.
Transporter - This one seems outlandish, but is kind of true. Scientists were able, in a lab under controlled conditions, to actually transport a 1 celled microbe from one spot in the room to another. It was a close distance, like an inch or something, but they said it worked. Like McCoy, I don’t really trust it.
Cloaking Device - This is another one that they can actually do in the lab under controlled conditions. They had a ring in a tube and when the cloak was activated, particles sent through the tube came through as if there was nothing in their path. Pretty cool.
Universal Translator - Not really a universal translator yet, but the Army has a field device that does translate phrases into 16 different languages. The person with the device chooses a language and then can say phrases using certain words. The translator then spits it out in the correct language, but also a longer enhanced message. They say it is a godsend even with the limited capabilities.
So, some technologies to keep an eye on. It is like a Star Trek or Star Wars world.
January 11th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Also of note - Star Trek New Voyages. This is a group of fans that are making new Original Series episods. Kirk, Spock, McCoy. Of course, these are different actors, but definitely has the right feel. And the look! They’ve got the look down. The episodes, as my wife said, are as cheesy and the acting is about as bad. That’s not to say that it isn’t good. That’s complimenting them on the accuracy. Also, Eugene Roddenberry is involved with the show, D.C. Fontana wrote at least 1 episode. And George Takei and Walter Koenig both guest starred. Worth checking out.