R.I.P. Mr. Spock - A short tribute to the great Leonard Nimoy

Top 10 'Star Trek' Technologies That Actually Came True

by Josh Briggs
How Stuff Works

"Beam us up." It's one of the most iconic lines in television history. It's something often heard in the hit science fiction television series "Star Trek" and all of the television shows and movies that followed.
The transporter essentially dematerialized a human body at one point only to rematerialize it in the transporter bay on the ship. Somehow, it broke down atoms and molecules within the body -- scattered them through the vacuum of space without losing a single one from point A to point B, then voila, that person re-emerged out of thin air. Sounds pretty cool, though impossible, right? But what if there was such a device?
The truth is, you can forget about a transporter. No one has been able to realize such a concept. But that doesn't mean some of the ideas that seemed far-fetched when the show debuted in 1966 haven't become a reality. In this article, we feature the top 10 technologies from Star Trek that actually did come to fruition, listed in no particular order. Some of them may surprise you.

10 Transparent Aluminum (Armor)

 

The fourth installment of the original "Star Trek" movies is perhaps the most endearing to fans. The crew returns to modern-day Earth. Kirk, Spock and the rest of the gang ditch a Klingon Bird of Prey spacecraft in the San Francisco Bay after narrowly missing the Golden Gate Bridge while flying blind in a storm. You may remember the scene -- but how many of you remember Scotty introducing transparent aluminum for the first time?
In the flick, Scotty traded the formula matrix for transparent aluminum -- a huge engineering advancement -- for sheets of plexiglass in order to build a tank to transport the two humpback whales (George and Gracie) to the Earth of their time. The claim was that you'd be able to replace six-inch (14-centimeter) thick Plexiglas with one-inch (2.5-centimeter) thick see-through aluminum.
It may sound impossible, but there is such a thing as transparent aluminum armor or aluminum oxynitride (ALON) as it's more commonly known. ALON is a ceramic material that starts out as a powder before heat and pressure turn it into a crystalline form similar to glass. Once in the crystalline form, the material is strong enough to withstand bullets. Polishing the molded ALON strengthens the material even more. The Air Force has tested the material in hopes of replacing windows and canopies in its aircraft. Transparent aluminum armor is lighter and stronger than bulletproof glass. Less weight, stronger material -- what's not to like?

9 Communicators

 

Whenever Captain Kirk left the safe confines of the Enterprise, he did so knowing it could be the last time he saw his ship. Danger was never far away. And when in distress and in need of help in a pinch, he could always count on Bones to come up with a miracle cure, Scotty to beam him up or Spock to give him some vital scientific information. He'd just whip out his communicator and place a call.
Fast-forward 30 years and wouldn't you know it, it seems like everyone carries a communicator. We just know them as cell phones. Actually, the communicators in "Star Trek" were more like the push-to-talk, person-to-person devices first made popular by Nextel in the mid to late '90s. The "Star Trek" communicator had a flip antenna that when opened, activated the device. The original flip cell phones are perhaps distant cousins. Whatever the case, the creators of "Star Trek" were on to something because you'd be hard-pressed to find many people without a cell phone these days.
In later incarnations of the "Star Trek" franchise, the communicators evolved to being housed in the Starfleet logo on the crewman's chest. With the tap of a finger, communication between crewmembers became even easier. Vocera Communications has a similar product that can link people on the same network inside a designated area like an office or a building by using the included software over a wireless LAN. The B2000 communication badge weighs less than two ounces and can be worn on the lapel of a coat or shirt and allows clear two-way communication. It's even designed to inhibit the growth of bacteria so it's suitable for doctors [source: Vocera].

8 Hypospray

The creative team behind "Star Trek" found spiffy ways to spice up some activities we endure on a day-to-day basis. Take medical treatment, for example: Not many people enjoy getting a flu shot, and in "Star Trek," inoculating patients was one of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy's primary duties. It seemed not an episode went by that Bones wasn't giving someone a shot of some sort of space vaccine. But what was more fascinating was the contraption he used.
Hypospray is a form of hypodermic injection of medication. A hypospray injection is forced under the skin (a subcutaneous injection) with high air pressure. The air pressure shoots the liquid vaccine deep enough into the skin that no needle is required. The real-world application is known as a jet injector.
Jet injectors have been in use for many years. In fact, the technology predates "Star Trek." Jet injectors were originally designed to be used in mass vaccinations. Jet injecting is safer (no needles to pass along infectious disease) and faster in administering vaccines. Similar in appearance to an automotive paint gun, jet injection systems can use a larger container for the vaccine, thus allowing medical personnel to inoculate more people quicker.

7 Tractor Beams

 

When NASA needs to make repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope, astronauts have to be specially trained to get out of the Space Shuttle for extravehicular activity. They also have to learn how to work within the confines of their space suits, with thick gloves on. Wouldn't it be nice to just bring the telescope inside, where repairs wouldn't be so challenging and dangerous?
In science fiction, space ships including the Starship Enterprise snatch each other up using tractor beams. In some cases, large vessels have a tractor beam strong enough to prevent smaller vessels from escaping the gravitational force. So is this science even plausible?
Yes and no. Optical tweezers are as close as you're going to get to a legitimate tractor beam on current-day Earth. Scientists have harnessed small lasers into beams capable of manipulating molecules and moving them with precision. Optical tweezers use a focused laser to trap and suspend microscopic particles in an optical trap. Scientists can use optical tweezers to trap and remove bacteria and sort cells. Optical tweezers are used primarily in studying the physical properties of DNA. While the beams used in optical tweezers aren't strong enough to dock the space shuttle to the International Space Station, it's a start in that direction.

 

6 Phasers

 

"Set phasers to stun" -- another oft-heard command given to the Enterprise crew. The crew often relied on the stun setting of their fictitious weapon of choice known as a phaser. Armed with a phaser, Kirk and his colleagues had the ability to kill or more desirably, stun their adversaries and render them incapacitated.
Actually, stun guns have been around for some time. In fact, electricity has been used for punishment and to control livestock as far back as the 1880s. But it wasn't until 1969 when a guy named Jack Cover invented the first Taser that the stun gun was most realized. The Taser fails to kill like the phaser did, yet, it packs enough of an electrical punch to render its victim disorientated, if not completely incapacitated.
Unlike the phaser, the Taser and other stun guns must come in physical contact with the target in order to have any effect. Tasers take care of this by projecting two electrodes, connected by wires, which attach to the target's skin. Once in contact, the handheld unit transfers electricity to the target, thus having the stun effect. Stun guns with stationary electrical contact probes are somewhat less effective because while they have a similar effect on the target, you have to be much closer (within arm's length) in order to zap your target.
Something more along the lines of the phaser may be in development. Applied Energetic has developed Laser Guided Energy and Laser Induced Plasma Energy technologies that are said to transmit high-voltage bursts of energy to a target [source: Applied Energetics]. In other words, these pulses of energy would stun the target and limit collateral damage. So a true phaser may soon be a reality.

5 Universal Translator

Imagine if no matter what country you visited, no matter what the culture, you could understand everything the indigenous people were saying. It sure would make traveling easier. Take that thought to another level like say, if you were planet hopping like the crew onboard the Enterprise. Fortunately for Captain Kirk and his peers, they had a universal translator.
The characters in "Star Trek" relied on a small device that when spoken into, would translate the words into English. Guess what? The technology exists for us in the real world. There are devices that let you speak phrases in English and it will spit back to you the same rhetoric in a specified language. The only problem is, these devices only work for certain predetermined languages.
A true universal translator like the one on the show may not be a reality, but the technology is available. Voice recognition has advanced considerably since its inception. But computers have yet to be able to learn languages. Computers would be able to theoretically gather the information much faster than a human brain, but a software program is dependent on actual data. Someone has to take the time and expense to put it together and make it available, which is probably why these systems focus on more popular languages.

4 Geordi's VISOR

When "Star Trek: The Next Generation" thrust the love of everything "Star Trek" back into popular culture, the quirky Mr. Spock and crass Bones McCoy and others were supplanted by a new cast. One of the most popular characters on the new show was engineer Geordi LaForge.
What made Geordi unique, perhaps even mysterious, was his funky eyewear. Geordi was blind, but after a surgical operation and aided through the use of a device called VISOR (Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement), Geordi could see throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. Though it may sound far-fetched, in reality, similar technology exists that may someday bring sight back to the blind.
In 2005, a team of scientists from Stanford University successfully implanted a small chip behind the retina of blind rats that enabled them to pass a vision recognition test. The science behind the implants, or bionic eyes as they're commonly referred to, works much the way Geordi's VISOR did. The patient receives the implants behind the retina, then wears a pair of glasses fitted with a video camera. Light enters the camera and is processed through a small wireless computer, which then broadcasts it as infrared LED images on the inside of the glasses. Those images are reflected back into the retina chips to stimulate photodiodes. The photodiodes replicate the lost retinal cells then change light into electrical signals which in turn send nerve pulses to the brain.
What it all means is that in theory, a person with 20/400 sight (blind), due to the loss of retinal cells from retinitis pigmentosa, can obtain 20/80 sight. It's not good enough to pass the driving test (normal vision is considered 20/20) but it's good enough to read billboards and go about your day without the aid of a seeing-eye dog.

3 Torpedo Coffins
Mr. Spock and crass Bones McCoy and others were supplanted by a new cast. One of the most popular characters on the new show was engineer Geordi LaForge.
What made Geordi unique, perhaps even mysterious, was his funky eyewear. Geordi was blind, but after a surgical operation and aided through the use of a device called VISOR (Visual Instrument and Sensory Organ Replacement), Geordi could see throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. Though it may sound far-fetched, in reality, similar technology exists that may someday bring sight back to the blind.
In 2005, a team of scientists from Stanford University successfully implanted a small chip behind the retina of blind rats that enabled them to pass a vision recognition test. The science behind the implants, or bionic eyes as they're commonly referred to, works much the way Geordi's VISOR did. The patient receives the implants behind the retina, then wears a pair of glasses fitted with a video camera. Light enters the camera and is processed through a small wireless computer, which then broadcasts it as infrared LED images on the inside of the glasses. Those images are reflected back into the retina chips to stimulate photodiodes. The photodiodes replicate the lost retinal cells then change light into electrical signals which in turn send nerve pulses to the brain.
What it all means is that in theory, a person with 20/400 sight (blind), due to the loss of retinal cells from retinitis pigmentosa, can obtain 20/80 sight. It's not good enough to pass the driving test (normal vision is considered 20/20) but it's good enough to read billboards and go about your day without the aid of a seeing-eye dog.

 

3 Torpedo Coffins

In the second installment of the "Star Trek" movie franchise, the beloved Mr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, died after saving the Starship Enterprise from certain disaster. The movie culminated with the crew firing Spock's corpse out of the torpedo bay in a coffin shaped like one of the ship's weapons, the photon torpedo.
Believe it or not, you too could be laid to eternal rest in your own Federation-approved photon torpedo casket. OK, it may not technically be Federation-approved since there is no such thing as the United Federation of Planets (UFP) but the coffins are, in fact, very real.
Designed by Eternal Image, the "Star Trek" coffin was slated to be available early 2009, but is still not for sale as of this writing. The price is yet to be determined. If the fan would prefer to be cremated, the company also plans to offer a "Star Trek" urn as well.

 

 2 Telepresence

 

In 1966, the idea of interacting with each other while separated by the void of space seemed as far fetched as, well the idea of being in space. That's precisely what the idea of telepresence is.
Telepresence is more than just video conferencing. The visual aspect is important and immersion is vital. In other words, the more convincing the illusion of telepresence, the more you feel like you're there.
In 2008, AT&T teamed up with Cisco in delivering the industry's first in-depth telepresence experience. The key to Cisco's TelePresence is the combination of audio, video and ambient lighting working together. These telepresence kits are designed to mirror surroundings and mimic sounds so that users on each side of the video conference will feel as though the images on the screen are in the same room with them. For instance, the people in boardroom A will see the people on the screen in boardroom B as though they are sitting across the table from them. The ambient lighting and room features are constructed to mirror each other. Sure, these telepresence kits are much more advanced than anything drummed up on "Star Trek," but perhaps that's because the show sparked our imagination so many years ago.

1 Tricorders

How many of you remember that instrument Mr. Spock used to always carry over his shoulder, especially when the crew (usually consisting of only Spock and Captain Kirk) first surveyed a new planet? That was a tricorder.
One of the more useful instruments available to "Star Trek" personnel, variations of the tricorder (medical, engineering or scientific) were used to measure everything from oxygen levels to detecting diseases. Often times the tricorder gave an initial analysis of the new environment. So, what's the real-world tie-in? NASA employs a handheld device called LOCAD, which measures for unwanted microorganisms such as E. coli, fungi and salmonella onboard the International Space Station [source: Coulter]. Beyond that, two handheld medical devices may soon help doctors examine blood flow and check for cancer, diabetes or bacterial infection.
Scientists at Loughborough University in England use photoplethysmography technology in a handheld device that can monitor the functions of the heart. Meanwhile, researchers at Harvard Medical School have developed a small device that utilizes similar technology found in MRI machines that non-invasively inspect the body. Using nuclear magnetic resonance imaging, this device would be sensitive enough to measure samples of as few as 10 possible infectious bacteria. This kind of sensitivity (800 times more sensitive than sensing equipment currently used in medical labs) could revolutionize the way doctors diagnose disease [source: Mick].

 

10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About the Original Star Trek

 

Charlie Jane Anders and Mandy Curtis

Space may be the final frontier, but Star Trek is a well-explored universe by now. Captain Kirk, the Enterprise, transporters, phasers, tricorders and Klingons are part of our common language. But there's still tons of insane stuff you've never heard about Trek.

 

We dug deep into the secret history of Star Trek, the half-forgotten details and weird happenstance that went into creating a cultural phenomenon that has lasted almost five decades. Here, in no particular order, are 10 things you probably didn't know about Star Trek: The Original Series.

. The original pilot, "The Cage," was partly killed for being too sexy
Why did NBC choose not to air the first Star Trek pilot, starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Christopher Pike? People usually blame it on a too-cerebral script, with too much deep philosophizing and introspection. But in fact, a major reason had to do with NBC's Broadcast Standards Office, being concerned about the "eroticism" of the pilot, with the green dancing girls and the kissing and all that raw sexuality. (To be sure, the network was also worried that it was "too smart," a female first officer was going too far, and Mr. Spock looked too demonic.) Later, after Trek was on the air, the producers used the network's concerns about sexuality to their advantage — they would deliberately put sexy stuff into episodes for the network to freak out about, so the censors wouldn't notice other things. For example, in the episode "A Private Little War," the producers deliberately put in a scene of Kirk having an open-mouth kiss with a half-naked woman, so the network could throw a fit about that — and not notice the blatant Vietnam allegory.
Source: Inside Star Trek by Herb Solow and Robert Justman, pp. 60 and 356.

2. Mr. Spock's skin color was originally different.
Originally, Gene Roddenberry and friends wanted Spock's skin to be a dark red, or at least to have a red tint. This was abandoned when they realized that on black-and-white TVs, Spock's skin would look black, possibly as if Spock was in blackface. Plus Leonard Nimoy would have needed hours more in makeup every morning. (See early Spock concept art, with a very different uniform design and a skullcap, at left, via Star Trek History.) Eventually, it was decided to make Spock's skin yellow-tinged instead — but when the network converted the film for the first episode for electronic broadcasting, the network's color specialist, Alex Quroga, "corrected" Spock's face to make it look pinker. (Watch "The Man Trap," and you can still see a more pink-faced Spock.)
Sources: Star Trek 365, NBC: America's Network by Michelle Hilmes, ed., TrekBBS, Star Trek History — that last site is full of insane details.

3. Spock originally didn't eat or drink
Not only would he have been red-faced, but Spock also wasn't originally planned to eat or drink anything — instead, he had a plate in the middle of his stomach, and he fed off any energy that struck this special plate.
Source: Star Trek: A History in Pictures by J.M. Dillard

4. Paramount was so desperate to get rid of Star Trek, they tried to cash out to Gene Roddenberry
Star Trek was originally produced by Desilu, the studio owned by I Love Lucy star Lucille Ball — who personally approved the show and played a big role in keeping it alive after the first pilot was rejected. But in July 1967, Desilu was bought by Gulf+Western, which had just purchased Paramount Pictures in 1966. That put Paramount in charge of Star Trek. According to producer Herb Solow, "Paramount didn't want Star Trek because it was losing too much money each week and didn't have enough episodes to syndicate." So Paramount offered to sell all of its equity in Trek to Gene Roddenberry for $150,000 — or about a million dollars today. But Roddenberry couldn't afford to pay that much money, so the rights stayed with Paramount. (In his original deal, Roddenberry had agreed his own Norway production studio would share net profits with Desilu, NBC, and William Shatner himself.)
Source: Interview with Solow in NBC: America's Network by Michelle Hilmes

5. The U.S.S. Enterprise had a six-lane bowling alley on board.
According to Star Trek Blueprints, an authentic set of blueprints for the Constitution-class Starships released in booklet form in 1975, there's a pretty giant bowling alley on Deck 21, right next to the "Refreshments Area" and the "Food and Beverages Preparation Facility."
Source: Memory Alpha, Lucky Puppy Odd Facts (image).

6. Gene Roddenberry told Isaac Asimov to shush
When Gene Roddenberry brought the second Star Trek pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," to the World Science Fiction Convention in Cleveland, he shushed a loud man at the start — who turned out to be Asimov. (Roddenberry was nervous about how the show would be received, but it wound up getting a standing ovation.) Later, in 1967, Asimov wrote an essay for TV Guide called "Mr. Spock is Dreamy!", all about the baffling phenomenon of women and girls finding the cerebral Spock sexually appealing — including Asimov's own twelve-year-old daughter. Wrote Asimov, Through the agency of Mr. Spock, Star Trek has been capitalizing upon a fact not generally known among the male half of the population. Women think being smart is sexy!" (Read the whole essay here.)
Source: Star Trek: A History in Pictures, Facebook

7. The Federation uniforms were made by a sweatshop
The Federation may be a Socialist utopia of sorts, but Starfleet's uniforms didn't exactly come out of a Replicator. According to producers Robert Justman and Herb Solow, the show's budget was so tiny, they couldn't afford to have costumes made by union costume-makers — instead, they had them made overnight by a "sweatshop," and sneaked the finished costumes in through a back window at the studio.
Source: Inside Star Trek by Solow and Justman.

E

8. William Shatner has never watched Star Trek.
The James Kirk actor told his daughter, Lizbeth Shatner, that he'd never seen the television show or any of the movies, in a video blog they did together. Said Shatner:

I never watched Star Trek. I have not even seen any of the Star Trek movies. I don't watch myself.

He added that he hated watching himself, because he feels as though "I suck." When he was directing himself and had to watch the footage afterwards — for example in Star Trek V — he found it really uncomfortable.
Source: The Telegraph.

9. That famous interracial kiss was originally between Spock and Uhura
Star Trek is well-known for featuring the first interracial kiss on television, between Captain Kirk and Lt. Uhura. But in the episode's actual script, that kiss would have transpired between Uhura and Spock, instead. According to Uhura actor Nichelle Nichols:

My understanding is Bill Shatner took one look at the scene and said, ‘No you will not! If anyone's going to be part of the first interracial kiss in television history, it's going to be me!' So they rewrote it.

Perhaps that original scene was one inspiration for the Spock/Uhura romance in the most recent Trek film?
Source: Star Trek: A History in Pictures page 44.

10. Star Trek visited Mayberry... twice.
The show was so broke, it reused tons of outdoor sets from The Andy Griffith Show, particularly in the episodes "Miri" and "City on the Edge of Forever." You can actually see Floyd's Barber Shop, where Andy regularly got his hair cut, in the background of scenes where Captain Kirk is walking along with Edith Keeler. You can also see the Mayberry Courthouse, Walkers Drugstore and several other major landmarks quite prominently in both episodes. There are tons and tons of pics, including set pics, at the link below.
Source: iMayberry.com

Screencaps mostly taken from Trekcore.

 

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The U.S.S. ENTERPRISE in Space

Star Trek Controls Going into New U.S. Spacecraft

 

Star Trek-style technology is becoming reality around us everyday. We have cell phones that look like the old communicators that Kirk flipped open. E-readers like the Kindle and tablets like the iPad are a lot like the Next Generation-era padds (Personal Access Display Device) that Picard and others used. There are lots of things that we are bringing from Trek’s future into our present.
There was a two-part episode of Voyager called “Future’s End” that even flirted with the idea that someone in the mid-20th century found Trek technology from the future and used it to launch the micro-computer revolution we are living in today. That episode itself used lots of themes and jokes from the Voyage Home feature film. The Trek folks are meta like that.
A 1993 study from Purdue University found that children learn more about science from Star Trek than from any other source.
And now we have the news from Air & Space Smithsonian that a new American spacecraft is being built that will utilize another Star Trek feature. Not warp nacelles or tractor beams, but something very familiar to all Trek fans from Next Generation forward.
The Orion capsule will feature very few control switches, as were in NASA craft of the past, and instead move to a touchscreen interface. The system is called “eProc” (electronic procedures), and is programmed to bring up the needed pages of icons as the user navigates the interface.

Trek fans will remember LCARS, the interface used in Trek computers, that was all touchscreen. LCARS is an acronym for Library Computer Access/Retrieval System. Scenic art supervisor and technical consultant Michael Okuda designed the LCARS interface to make the bridge of the newest Enterprise look clean and sleek.
“I came up with the LCARS style in part because of Gene Roddenberry’s directive that he wanted his new Enterprise to be so advanced that it looked simple and clean,” Okuda said. “The other part of the LCARS style was that it had to be something that could be manufactured quickly and easily on a television budget.”
The original setup on TNG was a simple plexiglass front with backlit printouts of the buttons needed. Later they installed video monitors within the panels so the interface could be changed at will.
Nowadays, we are used to the notion of touchscreen interfaces. They are in most smartphones, thanks to Apple leading the way with the iPhone. You can even get apps and wallpapers that will make your smartphone look like it is sporting the LCARS system.
There is even a very geek-centric website that is designed around the LCARS interface.
Image via YouTube
http://www.webpronews.com/star-trek-controls-going-into-new-u-s-spacecraft-2014-08

Death Star Destroys Enterprise (Special Edition) - IGN Original

It's Star Trek vs. Star Wars in the skies over San Francisco!

Which would win in a battle, the Death Star or the Enterprise?

Check out our Resident Evil IGN Original! http://bit.ly/13vIBBh

After Star Trek IV, the crew of the Enterprise needed more whales, so they came back to San Francisco again, except this time it's an alternate universe where Reagan's Star Wars defense initiative from the 80's is coming to fruition as the Death Star nears completion (superlaser already fully operational). Star Wars is our military

I am Sulu - which Star Trek character are you?

 

Take the Quiz, if you dare!

When it comes to visiting the final frontier, you want to go there with the original pioneers. Take the Zimbio 'Star Trek' personality quiz and find out which original series character best suits your style.

http://www.zimbio.com/quiz/1QqLzvl5aMU/Original+Star+Trek+Character?result=ZyiQxYS5OE7

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Black Friday on the Promenade in the Star Trek Universe

Author Mary Ann Bernal meets up with fans reading her novels on the Promenade.

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Briton-Dane-Mary-Ann-Bernal-ebook/dp/B00AVQDKIC

 

 

 

 

Star Trek Universe pays tribute to George Lucas

Captain Kirk watches Miley Cyrus performance