Real Trek Tech

[Cahones]

With NASA's Dawn probe on the way to Ceres/Vesta, I got thinking about Star Trek and real life technology. Apparently the lead researcher on the Dawn probe, which is using ion propulsion, first heard the term ion propulsion on star trek (which was invented well before the show) . I Read about it at Space Geographic (http://www.spacegeographic.com/?p=131) and watched a youtube video of the researcher linked there.

Got me thinking about the ways in which star trek has inspired other scientists and technology. Thoughts?

 

[BurgerB75]

Flip open cell phones for one thing.

 

[Cahones]

Maybe it'll be Apple's next design.

 

[Gravity_Ray]

Man there is a bunch, here is some I can think of right off the top of my head;

Personal computer, electronic tablets (ala ipad), portable computer memory sticks, Biometrics, wireless blue tooth ear pieces, remote location finding and GPS, sliding doors, tricorders (especially the medical tricorders), very large view screens, and the communicators (ala flip phones)....

Probably more as I think of them.

 

[BurgerB75]

Not exactly the visor Geordi wore but...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10361725-1.html

Edited to add: touch sensitive screens. And I think they had sliding doors before the time Star Trek was out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_door

 

[starsinmyeyes44]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjR36EAR_B4[/youtube]


This is a clip from a two-hour show called "How William Shatner Changed the World"....it has several stories of how people were inspired by Star Trek to invent new technologies.


This clip is about the man who developed the cell phone...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN-_VA5HFwM[/youtube]

 

[docm]

Remember that portable diagnostic thing McCoy used?

Meet GE's VScan: a hand-held ultrasound machine that'll fit in your pocket. Not only B&W but 4D, color and pulse Doppler.

A 'normal' ultrasound machine costs up to $150k and is dozens of times the size, minimum. VScan takes the price down to <$10k in a tiny package.

This thing will revolutionize diagnostics not only in normal clinical practice but in squads and regions where modern imaging isn't now possible. I'd bet they'd love to have one on ISS or a Mars mission.

http://www.gehealthcare.com/vscan/

http://www.ge.com/innovation/vscan/index.html

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry3w6fbT7rY[/youtube]

 

[a_lost_packet_]

One thing that came out of TOS was the impact that James Doohan (aka Scotty) had on young people. All of a sudden, the WANTED to become engineers. So many engineers and scientists were inspired by his character that it would be impossible to count them all. A few clips of Doohan's impact on engineering and science.

Wow! Doohan actually liked to read technical journals.. in real life!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqedcvB8MKw[/youtube]

A touching late interview I've never seen. "..I've heard from so many fans that they've become engineers because of Scotty..."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcIwAqAU3uo[/youtube]

"Once a fan had written to me and I was so concerned about her that I called. I ended up preventing her from committing suicide. I saw her many, many times..."

For James, it was one of the best things he had ever done in his life. An interview excerpt about these events:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsSdLD_YodQ[/youtube]

For one woman, Scotty the Engineer was the biggest inspiration of all.

 

[nimbus]

One thing that came out of TOS was the impact that James Doohan (aka Scotty) had on young people. All of a sudden, the WANTED to become engineers. So many engineers and scientists were inspired by his character that it would be impossible to count them all. [...]

And people argue that going to space isn't inspiration enough to warrant the costs.

 

[a_lost_packet_]

One thing that came out of TOS was the impact that James Doohan (aka Scotty) had on young people. All of a sudden, the WANTED to become engineers. So many engineers and scientists were inspired by his character that it would be impossible to count them all. [...]

And people argue that going to space isn't inspiration enough to warrant the costs.

Yup. But, those people generally don't understand what "inspiration" is all about.