Romulan Cloaking Device
We saw early on that Romulans could make their ships disappear, and researchers are now working to bend light in hopes of achieving a similar effect.
Transparent Aluminum
It was used to make the tanks that held the whales in “Star Trek IV”, and it exists in the real world under the name ALON.
Tricorders
Tricorders are a Star Trek standby, and “lab-on-a-chip” technology is putting something very similiar on the International Space Station.
Geordi’s Visor
Giordi La Forge saw the world through a special visor, and Bionic Vision Australia is working on a system to help blind patients recover some of their vision.
Painless Medicine
Medical technologies like jet injections and ultrasound surgery mirror elements of Dr. McCoy’s sickbay.
#1 Dictation
#2 Touch Tablets
#3 Wireless or Bluetooth devices
#4 Room filling music by voice command
All awesome and makes my life simpler.
Just a correction on the whale tanks in star trek 4, they were actually made from plexiglass, the thickness of plexi needed to hold the amount of water was discussed in that scene. The sheets were given to them in exchange for the formula for the transparent aluminum. Just a bit of nerd knowledge I rememberd
You go, Sam!
Hi Caly, great seeing your show live-in-person today at BEA at the Javits! Quite funny and entertaining, I must say!
I like this post about Star Trek –I’ve thought of often also, how science fiction writers often magically anticipate real advances in science.
I think you could add that, while not exactly a “cloaking device,” the helicopters used by the Navy Seals in Operation Geronimo do have a bit of cloaking technology that helped them go undetected across the border. This was not anywhere near possible back in the days of Captain Kirk.
Thanks again for the BEA event today — I caught 4 of the segments!! Jeff
Thanks – glad you could join us!
Hey. Thought I would point out in the original star trek they had people open and close the sliding doors. But that became reality years later and we now see them in malls and tons of other places.