Fictional Technological Devices That Have Since Been Realized
Transparent Aluminum as featured in the Star Trek universe has since become a reality as Aluminium oxynitride (ALONtm), patented in 1985. Rather than being used as transparent blast shielding in a fictional starship such as the Enterprise class starships featured throughout the series, the United States Air Force Research Laboratory and University of Dayton Research Institute, Ohio developed the ceramic compound as a replacement for the glass currently used in armoured ground and air vehicles. In June 2004 ALONtm withstood a blast from a .30 caliber Russian M-44, and a .50 caliber Browning Sniper rifle, each firing armour piercing bullets. The comparable glass samples did not survive the test. While ALONtm is currently much more expensive to produce than glass, it also requires replacement less often because of its scratch resistance and durability, and it's light weight compared to the equivalent amount of bulletproof glass may allow it to be used in aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemaster III, A-10 Thunderbolt II and helicopters.
Tractor/Repulsor Beams have been realized as Laser-based Optical Tweezers, and more recently as a pair of Bessel beams. These tweezers have been developed to utilize the radiation from the laser beam to manipulate small particles in what is called an "optical trap", while the technique of overlapping two Bessel beams draws or pushes a miniscule object such as a microscopic silica sand particle along the length of the beam as desired.
Fictional Tractor beams have been prominently used in the Star Wars universe in both the books and movie series, as well as the Star Trek universe. Arguably the most notable pop culture use of a tractor beam was in Star Wars: A New Hope near the beginning of the movie when the Death Star tractors in the Millennium Falcon, the spaceship the main cast was riding in.
Artificial Vision/Prosthetic Eyes A Bionic visual aid has been developed at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center as well as University of Southern California. The implant is designed to be placed behind the retina, and was a success in trials with rodents, where the rodents successfully responded to patterns of black and white stripes placed in front of them.
These bionic eyes are expected to help those suffering from age related macular degeneration and retinis pigmentosa in particular.
Notable examples of characters who utilize the advantages of artificial vision include all characters from the Ghost in the Shell series who use prosthetic bodies e.g. Batou's ranger eyes, Saito's left eye, and Motoko Kusanagi's artificial eyes, Geordi LaForge from the Star Trek: The Next Generation series who made use of a VISOR and later; ocular implants, RoboCop from the RoboCop series, Spike Spiegel from the Cowboy Bebop anime series, and the Illusive Man from the Mass Effect series of videogames.
Tricorder The Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS) used by astronauts on the International Space Station is designed specifically to biochemical molecules with the purpose of "identifying microbes on space station services" through use of the Gram Staining Method.
Though less advanced than the fictional Tricorder of the Star Trek series, the LOCAD-PTS is useful for quickly identifying bacteria and fungi on the International Space Station without having to send samples back to Earth, thus risking contamination or degradation. Fungi have proven to be a hazard if left unchecked on the space station as they managed to decompose some Russian electronics.
The Tricorder featured in the Star Trek universe was capable of measuring almost anything, from the chemical composition of explosives, to the life signs of a dying humanoid. The LOCAD-PTS does not differentiate between live and dead test material yet.
Read more about this topic: Technology In Science Fiction
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