The "Cloaking Device" first introduced in the Star Trek episode Balance of Terror is soon to be a reality due to research being done at Berkely.
"Berkeley — Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have for the first time engineered 3-D materials that can reverse the natural direction of visible and near-infrared light, a development that could help form the basis for higher resolution optical imaging, nanocircuits for high-powered computers, and, to the delight of science-fiction and fantasy buffs, cloaking devices that could render objects invisible to the human eye. Two breakthroughs in the development of metamaterials – composite materials with extraordinary capabilities to bend electromagnetic waves – are reported separately this week in the Aug. 13 advanced online issue of Nature, and in the Aug. 15 issue of Science. Applications for a metamaterial entail altering how light normally behaves. In the caseinvisibility cloaks or shields, the material would need to curve light waves completely aroundlike a river flowing around a rock. For optical microscopes to discern individual, living virusesmolecules, the resolution of the microscope must be smaller than the wavelength of light."
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Monday, August 11, 2008
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Scientists Create Star Trek-style 'Deflector'
Star Trek fans are very familiar with the command "Shields up!" In the not so distant future, astronauts may be hearing the command on real spacecraft. Scientists working at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford, are working to create a force field that will be similar to the protective shield used on Captain Kirk's starship Enterprise. The radiation shield will mimic the deflection properties of the Earth's magnetic field to protect astronauts on a mission to Mars. The idea is to guard against dangerous space radiation that could increase the risk of cancer and cognitive problems, the New Scientist reports. Read more about it here. (Illustration Ruth Bamford et al/Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Parallel Universes Do Exist, say Scientists
The Original Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror" and the Star Trek TNG episode "Parallels" are based upon "the parallel universe theory" first proposed in 1950 by the American physicist Hugh Everett. Everett formulated the theory in an attempt to explain mysteries of quantum mechanics that baffled scientists. In Everett's "many worlds" universe, every time a new physical possibility is explored, the universe splits. Given a number of possible alternative outcomes, each one is played out - in its own universe. A motorist who has a near miss, for instance, might feel relieved at his lucky escape. But in a parallel universe, another version of the same driver will have been killed. Yet another universe will see the motorist recover after treatment in a hospital. The number of alternative scenarios is endless.
The TNG episode "Parallels" climaxes when realities begin to merge into one another, and hundreds of USS Enterprise star ships appear, each experiencing a different possible outcome. In "Mirror, Mirror", captain Kirk and crew are teleported into an alternate universe where they find that their alternate universe counter parts are cruel and imperialistic. An interesting theory to explore with science fiction story telling. In the past, this was no more than a bizarre idea which was dismissed as fanciful by many experts. But, not any more. According to a mathematical discovery by Oxford scientists, parallel universes are no longer just a theory or Science fiction. The discovery is being heralded as "one of the most important developments in the history of science". New research from Oxford shows that it offers a mathematical answer to quantum conundrums that cannot be dismissed lightly - and suggests that Dr Everett, who was a PhD student at Princeton University when he came up with the theory, was on the right track.
The TNG episode "Parallels" climaxes when realities begin to merge into one another, and hundreds of USS Enterprise star ships appear, each experiencing a different possible outcome. In "Mirror, Mirror", captain Kirk and crew are teleported into an alternate universe where they find that their alternate universe counter parts are cruel and imperialistic. An interesting theory to explore with science fiction story telling. In the past, this was no more than a bizarre idea which was dismissed as fanciful by many experts. But, not any more. According to a mathematical discovery by Oxford scientists, parallel universes are no longer just a theory or Science fiction. The discovery is being heralded as "one of the most important developments in the history of science". New research from Oxford shows that it offers a mathematical answer to quantum conundrums that cannot be dismissed lightly - and suggests that Dr Everett, who was a PhD student at Princeton University when he came up with the theory, was on the right track.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
New Medical Treatment Inspired by the Star Trek Medical Tricorder
Emergency medical technicians rush to the scene of a horrific accident. The victim has several severe visible injuries, is writhing in pain, and is having difficulty breathing. The most serious injury is trauma to the victims lungs. The medical technician reaches into his case and removes a handheld device which he holds over the victims chest. Even though the device never makes physical contact with the victims body, it begins to repair the damage.
We have seen a similar event in how many Star Trek episodes? The ship's doctor uses their trusty medical tricorder to "heal" a wound. Well, it seems that this is no longer confined to Science fiction. "Harborview Medical Center. Engineers at the University of Washington are working with Harborview doctors to create new emergency treatments right out of Star Trek: a tricorder type device using high-intensity focused ultrasound rays. This summer, researchers published the first experiment using ultrasound to seal punctured lungs."
"No one has ever looked at treating lungs with ultrasound," said Shahram Vaezy, a UW associate professor of bioengineering. Physicists were skeptical it would work because a lung is essentially a collection of air sacs, and air blocks transmission of ultrasound. But the new experiments show that punctures on the lung's surface, where injuries usually occur, heal with ultrasound therapy. "The results are really impressive," Vaezy said. He cautions that this is still in the early stages and the technique is not yet being tested on humans.
High-intensity focused ultrasound is now being investigated for a number of different treatments. It promises "bloodless surgery" with no scalpels or sutures in sight. Doctors would pass a sensor over the patient and use invisible rays to heal the wound. Researchers are exploring the use of high-intensity focused ultrasound - with beams tens of thousands of times more powerful than used in imaging - for applications ranging from numbing pain to destroying cancerous tissue.
In this case, lenses focus the high-intensity ultrasound beams at a particular spot inside the body on the patient's lungs. Focusing the ultrasound beams, in a process similar to focusing sunlight with a magnifying glass, creates a tiny but extremely hot spot about the size and shape of a grain of rice. The rays heat the blood cells until they form a seal. Meanwhile the tissue between the device and the spot being treated does not get hot, as it would with a laser beam. "You can penetrate deep into the body and deliver the energy to the bleeding very accurately," Vaezy said. Recent tests on pigs' lungs showed that high-intensity ultrasound sealed the leaks in one or two minutes. More than 95 percent of the 70 incisions were stable after two minutes of treatment, according to results published this summer in the Journal of Trauma.
The findings suggest that ultrasound might replace what is now a painful, invasive procedure. Lung injuries are relatively common because the chest is a big surface that's often exposed to crushing or puncture wounds, said co-author Gregory Jurkovich, chief of trauma at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and a UW professor of surgery. A busy trauma room like Harborview's, he said, admits about two patients with bleeding lungs per day.
Often the bleeding can be stopped simply by packing the wound and applying pressure. In other cases, doctors insert a straw and drain the blood and air so the wound can heal. But in about one in 10 cases neither of these methods is successful, and doctors must operate to stop the bleeding. That means making a long incision and separating the ribs, and then either sewing up the organ or removing a section of the lung.
The new research shows that in these difficult cases, high-intensity focused ultrasound applied from outside could stop bleeding and air leaks. Vaezy and colleagues in the Center for Industrial and Medical Ultrasound in the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory have been developing ultrasound for surgery for more than a decade, concentrating on frequencies in the 1 million to 10 million hertz (cycles per second). The device producing the ultrasound rays, about the size of a golf ball, is inserted into a handle that doctors use to scan the outside of the body. Previous experiments used the tool to seal blood vessels and stop bleeding in the spleen.
Someday, Jurkovich predicts, this tool might be used for image-guided therapy. "Doctors will scan the body from the outside, recognize where the injury is, focus the beam on the injury and use the beams to seal the wound," Jurkovich said. The futuristic medical technology's promise is substantial, he said. "It would be non-invasive and it would stop the bleeding from the outside. When it happens, that's going to revolutionize how we would care for some of these injuries."
The research was funded the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
We have seen a similar event in how many Star Trek episodes? The ship's doctor uses their trusty medical tricorder to "heal" a wound. Well, it seems that this is no longer confined to Science fiction. "Harborview Medical Center. Engineers at the University of Washington are working with Harborview doctors to create new emergency treatments right out of Star Trek: a tricorder type device using high-intensity focused ultrasound rays. This summer, researchers published the first experiment using ultrasound to seal punctured lungs."
"No one has ever looked at treating lungs with ultrasound," said Shahram Vaezy, a UW associate professor of bioengineering. Physicists were skeptical it would work because a lung is essentially a collection of air sacs, and air blocks transmission of ultrasound. But the new experiments show that punctures on the lung's surface, where injuries usually occur, heal with ultrasound therapy. "The results are really impressive," Vaezy said. He cautions that this is still in the early stages and the technique is not yet being tested on humans.
High-intensity focused ultrasound is now being investigated for a number of different treatments. It promises "bloodless surgery" with no scalpels or sutures in sight. Doctors would pass a sensor over the patient and use invisible rays to heal the wound. Researchers are exploring the use of high-intensity focused ultrasound - with beams tens of thousands of times more powerful than used in imaging - for applications ranging from numbing pain to destroying cancerous tissue.
In this case, lenses focus the high-intensity ultrasound beams at a particular spot inside the body on the patient's lungs. Focusing the ultrasound beams, in a process similar to focusing sunlight with a magnifying glass, creates a tiny but extremely hot spot about the size and shape of a grain of rice. The rays heat the blood cells until they form a seal. Meanwhile the tissue between the device and the spot being treated does not get hot, as it would with a laser beam. "You can penetrate deep into the body and deliver the energy to the bleeding very accurately," Vaezy said. Recent tests on pigs' lungs showed that high-intensity ultrasound sealed the leaks in one or two minutes. More than 95 percent of the 70 incisions were stable after two minutes of treatment, according to results published this summer in the Journal of Trauma.
The findings suggest that ultrasound might replace what is now a painful, invasive procedure. Lung injuries are relatively common because the chest is a big surface that's often exposed to crushing or puncture wounds, said co-author Gregory Jurkovich, chief of trauma at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and a UW professor of surgery. A busy trauma room like Harborview's, he said, admits about two patients with bleeding lungs per day.
Often the bleeding can be stopped simply by packing the wound and applying pressure. In other cases, doctors insert a straw and drain the blood and air so the wound can heal. But in about one in 10 cases neither of these methods is successful, and doctors must operate to stop the bleeding. That means making a long incision and separating the ribs, and then either sewing up the organ or removing a section of the lung.
The new research shows that in these difficult cases, high-intensity focused ultrasound applied from outside could stop bleeding and air leaks. Vaezy and colleagues in the Center for Industrial and Medical Ultrasound in the UW's Applied Physics Laboratory have been developing ultrasound for surgery for more than a decade, concentrating on frequencies in the 1 million to 10 million hertz (cycles per second). The device producing the ultrasound rays, about the size of a golf ball, is inserted into a handle that doctors use to scan the outside of the body. Previous experiments used the tool to seal blood vessels and stop bleeding in the spleen.
Someday, Jurkovich predicts, this tool might be used for image-guided therapy. "Doctors will scan the body from the outside, recognize where the injury is, focus the beam on the injury and use the beams to seal the wound," Jurkovich said. The futuristic medical technology's promise is substantial, he said. "It would be non-invasive and it would stop the bleeding from the outside. When it happens, that's going to revolutionize how we would care for some of these injuries."
The research was funded the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Scientists Exceed the Speed of Light
A pair of German physicists claim to have exceeded the speed of light - an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time.
Investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws, the two Scientists conducted an experiment using energetic packets of light called "microwave photons". Dr Gunter Nimtz and Dr Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say that they made these packets of light travel a distance of 3 feet instantaneously.
If this is verified to be true, expect this violation of the special theory of relatively to open a whole new world of possibilities. While the theory behind "warp drive" in 'Star Trek' isn't necessarily the same kind of technology, it is still interesting to see another "Trek-like" possibility come to life. As Stephen Hawking's character in Star Trek The Next Generation episode "Descent" would say, "Wrong again, Albert!"
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Sona Mobile's Star Trek Cell Phone Project on Hold - Seeking Investors
by Propmaster - staff writer
We told you about the Sona Mobile cell phone project a while back. However, despite the excitement and support Sona Mobile received for a cell phone faithfully designed to look like the communicator from Star Trek the original series, they have put the project on hold while they seek investors for the project. They discovered that it would take approximately $3,000,000.00 to produce 25,000 of the phones. If you can help them as an investor or can hook them up with an interested investor, send them an email at partnership@sonamobile.com.
We told you about the Sona Mobile cell phone project a while back. However, despite the excitement and support Sona Mobile received for a cell phone faithfully designed to look like the communicator from Star Trek the original series, they have put the project on hold while they seek investors for the project. They discovered that it would take approximately $3,000,000.00 to produce 25,000 of the phones. If you can help them as an investor or can hook them up with an interested investor, send them an email at partnership@sonamobile.com.
Top Secret Phaser Video - On Sale Now - Please don't tell.
by Propblaster - guest writer
There is a secret in the Star Trek original series phaser community! Almost 20 years ago, a video of the only authenticated hero Star Trek phaser was created. It has been circulating around the prop community for years. However, some of those who have it refuse to share it or talk about it, unless you fork over more than $200.00. Many, in the very crowd that proclaim to hate secrecy and mercilessly slander and attack certain scrupulous people in the hobby because they think they won't share info with them evidently because they need the information to help some of them make better forgeries, have been circulating the video amongst themselves, and sometimes making a tidy sum in the process. The video is really nothing great. No new knowledge can be derived, some shots are out of focus, however, the hypocrisy of the crowd that has tried to hoard it is clearly demonstrated in its secret circulation. They sell it with the stipulation that the sucker buying it never share it with anyone else. The fact is, the seller probably received it with the same stipulation. You gotta love this hobby sometimes. Anyway, John Long has released a video of Greg Jein's phaser and he isn't charging a penny for it.
Click Here To see a quality video of Greg Jein's hero phaser that was actually used in the filming of the original 'Star Trek' series for the low low price of $0.00.
There is a secret in the Star Trek original series phaser community! Almost 20 years ago, a video of the only authenticated hero Star Trek phaser was created. It has been circulating around the prop community for years. However, some of those who have it refuse to share it or talk about it, unless you fork over more than $200.00. Many, in the very crowd that proclaim to hate secrecy and mercilessly slander and attack certain scrupulous people in the hobby because they think they won't share info with them evidently because they need the information to help some of them make better forgeries, have been circulating the video amongst themselves, and sometimes making a tidy sum in the process. The video is really nothing great. No new knowledge can be derived, some shots are out of focus, however, the hypocrisy of the crowd that has tried to hoard it is clearly demonstrated in its secret circulation. They sell it with the stipulation that the sucker buying it never share it with anyone else. The fact is, the seller probably received it with the same stipulation. You gotta love this hobby sometimes. Anyway, John Long has released a video of Greg Jein's phaser and he isn't charging a penny for it.
Click Here To see a quality video of Greg Jein's hero phaser that was actually used in the filming of the original 'Star Trek' series for the low low price of $0.00.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Kirk Revived!
By Propmaster - staff writer
Well, after saying that he will probably never play Captain Kirk again, William Shatner has revived his role as Captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise. You can see it here in this Direct TV commercial. Click here to watch.
Well, after saying that he will probably never play Captain Kirk again, William Shatner has revived his role as Captain Kirk of the starship Enterprise. You can see it here in this Direct TV commercial. Click here to watch.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Berman and Braga Finished with Star Trek
By PropMaster - staff writer
Braga now claims he is sorry he didn't listen more to Trek fans. Berman is still giving us all the galactic finger. But, neither Berman or Braga believe they will have anything to do with another Star Trek TV show. Excuse me while I wipe a tear of joy from my face.
Berman told "Star Trek Magazine" (via "Sci Fi Pulse") that when Paramount decides to revive TV Trek "it will be the result of someone fresh." In an interview with "Sci Fi Wire" Braga also announced that his relationship with Trek is over.
To be fair, "First Contact" was a good movie with a good sound track, and the last few seasons of TNG were first rate. But, with "Voyager", "Insurrection", "Nemesis", and "Enterprise" it was all down hill.
Sci Fi Wire
Sci Fi Pulse
Braga now claims he is sorry he didn't listen more to Trek fans. Berman is still giving us all the galactic finger. But, neither Berman or Braga believe they will have anything to do with another Star Trek TV show. Excuse me while I wipe a tear of joy from my face.
Berman told "Star Trek Magazine" (via "Sci Fi Pulse") that when Paramount decides to revive TV Trek "it will be the result of someone fresh." In an interview with "Sci Fi Wire" Braga also announced that his relationship with Trek is over.
To be fair, "First Contact" was a good movie with a good sound track, and the last few seasons of TNG were first rate. But, with "Voyager", "Insurrection", "Nemesis", and "Enterprise" it was all down hill.
Sci Fi Wire
Sci Fi Pulse
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Star Trek Communicator Cell Phone
By PropMaster, staff writer
Sona Mobile is releasing a cell phone that resembles the communicator used in Star Trek the original series. The concept of the cell phone, after all, was inspired by the Star Trek communicator used in the original series. It is only fitting that Sona's new cell phone would actually resemble the original series communicator designed by Wah Chang. Now, 40 years later, Wah Chang's design is almost a reality.
Sona's web site describes the phone this way:
"A Communicator in your pocket
"You have an incoming message," announces the voice of Lieutenant Commander Worf.
Flip open the phone, hear the famous communicator chirp, and take your incoming call.
Finish the call and check your schedule for the day.
The Sona SWP- and Windows Mobile-powered Star Trek Communicator phone displays a list of features on the main screen.
All Rights Reserved.
Star Trek and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures.
All other registered trademarks belong to their respective companies.
© 2005 SONA MOBILE, Inc. All rights reserved.
Information subject to change without notice.
Phones pictures may not be representative of the final product."
Sona Mobile is releasing a cell phone that resembles the communicator used in Star Trek the original series. The concept of the cell phone, after all, was inspired by the Star Trek communicator used in the original series. It is only fitting that Sona's new cell phone would actually resemble the original series communicator designed by Wah Chang. Now, 40 years later, Wah Chang's design is almost a reality.
Sona's web site describes the phone this way:
"A Communicator in your pocket
"You have an incoming message," announces the voice of Lieutenant Commander Worf.
Flip open the phone, hear the famous communicator chirp, and take your incoming call.
Finish the call and check your schedule for the day.
The Sona SWP- and Windows Mobile-powered Star Trek Communicator phone displays a list of features on the main screen.
All Rights Reserved.
Star Trek and related marks are trademarks of Paramount Pictures.
All other registered trademarks belong to their respective companies.
© 2005 SONA MOBILE, Inc. All rights reserved.
Information subject to change without notice.
Phones pictures may not be representative of the final product."
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
How the Props of Star Trek Influence our World - A Discovery Channel Documentary
October 25, 2005
By PropMaster - staff writer
A new documentary on Star Trek and the development of technology, How William Shatner Changed the World, premieres next month. Hosted and narrated by William Shatner, the documentary will show how the props and science of "Star Trek" inspired the brightest minds of Silicon Valley to create the gadgets that have changed the world.
Channel Canada reports, "As a young boy in 1960 suburbia, Mark Rayman was less interested in how far he could hit a baseball than how far it was to the Final Frontier. Captivated by television coverage of the early Mercury flights – and the Star Trek expeditions a channel or two over – Rayman is now Chief Engineer in charge of the Robotic Deep Space Probe project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. And the longstanding affection between NASA and Trekkies is mutual – NASA’s very first Space Shuttle was named Enterprise, and, according to Shatner, this was no coincidence.
And while some young Trekkies dreamed of space, others were more interested in the gadgets onboard in the year 2300 and would make it their life’s work to bring these toys off the screen and onto the streets. According to Shatner, booking a date for Friday night and fielding inquiries from casting agents got a lot easier thanks to an industrious Trekkie named Marty Cooper. Cooper, a chief engineer at Motorola, understood that people were inherently mobile and would never want to be chained to their desks, tethered to conventional telephones. Captain Kirk and his USS Enterprise colleagues were on to something with their cordless “communicator” with voice recognition technology. Inspired by the brick-like device, Cooper and the Motorola team invented the first mobile cellular phone, giving birth to the start of a communications revolution.
And for some young minds captivated by the fictional world of Star Trek, the possibility of communicating with Talarians, Klingons and Gorns would lead to the most basic question: Is something “out there” beyond our own solar system, and if so, how do we find them? Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer with the SETI Institute (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) which works alongside NASA, credits Star Trek with synthesizing the physics and astronomy of the search for extra-terrestrial life with the emotional and intellectual drive to know and understand the rest of our universe.
The evolution of the computer, the microchip and software programs is peppered with Star Trek influences, from the primitive Altair 8800 (named after a Star Trek solar system) and its evolution into the first Apple computer to the rise of Bill Gates and Microsoft. And as a result of Star Trek, human operating systems also began to reflect this futuristic vision. The USS Enterprise sickbay, under the medical supervision of Doctor McCoy, specialized in quick diagnosis and scalpel-free – and painless – surgery. For Stanford University Hospital brain surgeon Doctor John Adler, this protocol was the only way forward. Today, non-invasive diagnostics, CAT scans and MRIs are a matter of course and, inspired by Star Trek technologies, Adler has invented the Cyberknife – a computer-controlled robotic device that employs a laser beam to remove cancers without even the smallest cut."
So, prop geeks lift your chins a little higher everytime someone "flips" open their cell phone. I'll bet Wah Chang did.
You can see the documentary in Canada on the Discovery Channel on November 13, 2005 at 8:00pm eastern time. You can read the entire article at this URL- http://www.channelcanada.com/Article1089.html
By PropMaster - staff writer
A new documentary on Star Trek and the development of technology, How William Shatner Changed the World, premieres next month. Hosted and narrated by William Shatner, the documentary will show how the props and science of "Star Trek" inspired the brightest minds of Silicon Valley to create the gadgets that have changed the world.
Channel Canada reports, "As a young boy in 1960 suburbia, Mark Rayman was less interested in how far he could hit a baseball than how far it was to the Final Frontier. Captivated by television coverage of the early Mercury flights – and the Star Trek expeditions a channel or two over – Rayman is now Chief Engineer in charge of the Robotic Deep Space Probe project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. And the longstanding affection between NASA and Trekkies is mutual – NASA’s very first Space Shuttle was named Enterprise, and, according to Shatner, this was no coincidence.
And while some young Trekkies dreamed of space, others were more interested in the gadgets onboard in the year 2300 and would make it their life’s work to bring these toys off the screen and onto the streets. According to Shatner, booking a date for Friday night and fielding inquiries from casting agents got a lot easier thanks to an industrious Trekkie named Marty Cooper. Cooper, a chief engineer at Motorola, understood that people were inherently mobile and would never want to be chained to their desks, tethered to conventional telephones. Captain Kirk and his USS Enterprise colleagues were on to something with their cordless “communicator” with voice recognition technology. Inspired by the brick-like device, Cooper and the Motorola team invented the first mobile cellular phone, giving birth to the start of a communications revolution.
And for some young minds captivated by the fictional world of Star Trek, the possibility of communicating with Talarians, Klingons and Gorns would lead to the most basic question: Is something “out there” beyond our own solar system, and if so, how do we find them? Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer with the SETI Institute (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) which works alongside NASA, credits Star Trek with synthesizing the physics and astronomy of the search for extra-terrestrial life with the emotional and intellectual drive to know and understand the rest of our universe.
The evolution of the computer, the microchip and software programs is peppered with Star Trek influences, from the primitive Altair 8800 (named after a Star Trek solar system) and its evolution into the first Apple computer to the rise of Bill Gates and Microsoft. And as a result of Star Trek, human operating systems also began to reflect this futuristic vision. The USS Enterprise sickbay, under the medical supervision of Doctor McCoy, specialized in quick diagnosis and scalpel-free – and painless – surgery. For Stanford University Hospital brain surgeon Doctor John Adler, this protocol was the only way forward. Today, non-invasive diagnostics, CAT scans and MRIs are a matter of course and, inspired by Star Trek technologies, Adler has invented the Cyberknife – a computer-controlled robotic device that employs a laser beam to remove cancers without even the smallest cut."
So, prop geeks lift your chins a little higher everytime someone "flips" open their cell phone. I'll bet Wah Chang did.
You can see the documentary in Canada on the Discovery Channel on November 13, 2005 at 8:00pm eastern time. You can read the entire article at this URL- http://www.channelcanada.com/Article1089.html
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
TOS Tricorder Moving Moire Mystery Revealed
October 19, 2005
By PropMaster - Staff Writer
There has been a heated debate among "proppers" over whether or not the ST:TOS tricorder had a moving moire. Some say yes while others say no. And, of course, you have those who immediately resort to name calling and personal attacks when they start having a hard time proving their point. Somehow, they feel the attacks seem to support their arguments. The recent release of the Master Replicas TOS Tricorder didn't help clear up any of the confusion. The MR tricorder has a moving moire. The pro moving moire crowd points to the MR tricorder to prove that high tech electronics could have been used in the original, 1966-1969 tricorder to produce the moving moire. They infer that there were miniature electric motors in 1966 that moved at the rate of 2 rpm and would fit in a very small space inside the tricorder. The anti-moving moire crowd points out that is just ignorant and stupid. Miniature, inexpensive, 2 rpm electric motors didn't exist in 1966. They also point out that several people who worked on the production team of Star Trek in 1966 say that the moires on the tricorder didn't move. But, that isn't enough for the pro-moving moire crowd. Facts don't matter when there is a possibility that you can get credit for discovering something prop related that no one else could find. After all, it is the recognition that counts - not the truth.
But, we at PropBuzz have discovered the shocking truth behind the moving moire mystery. The truth is stranger than fiction. The moving moire in the tricorder is actually a projected clip from the Patterson Bigfoot film! We talked to the discoverer of this new information and he says, "I was watching my TOS DVD set for the 104th time when I spotted it on my 57 inch HDTV. I paused the episode and couldn't believe what I saw. It was a large, hairy unidentified creature. It had too much hair to be William Shatner and it didn't have pointy ears like Spock. At first, since it didn't have any dialog, I thought it may have been Chekov. But, after a closer look I could tell- It was Bigfoot! Sure, it looked cheezy, but what 1960's Sci-Fi TV show didn't? Anyway, it makes you think, doesn't it?"
So, that settles it. There was no moving moire in the TOS tricorder. How do we know? Because, unlike the moving tricorder moire, people have actually seen Bigfoot. Or, have they? We contacted a Psychologist about this and we were told, "Based upon the best evidence we have we know that anyone who claims to see a moving tricorder moire while watching any episode of Star Trek the original series is also likely to be the kind of person who would be convinced they saw a real Bigfoot."
So, the chances of a moving tricorder moire are about the same as the chances that Bigfoot exists in a suburb of Brooklyn.
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