(playful piano melody)
(crack)
- Sorry.
(playful melody)
- I said tea, Earl Gray, hot.
This is coffee, black, lukewarm.
Mark it dude.
- Tea, earl gray, hot.
- Can you order tea, sir?
- Tea, Earl Gray.
- Can you order tea, sir?
- Hot hot hot.
- Since it first aired in 1966, we've
created tech just as good as Star Trek.
Sometimes even better,
except transporters.
But, who wants their atoms
scattered all over space, anyway?
- Buried alive, buried alive.
- Khan!
- The most ubiqiutous Star Trek gizmo
we have today, is the communicator.
Or, as we call them, cell phones.
On Star Trek, they were more like those
annoying push-to-talk
devices popular in the 90's.
Even the next generation communicator
badges are possible today.
We have similar badges that can link
people over wireless networks, or use
bluetooth to connect
to our phone contacts,
to enable voice messaging.
- Please Spock, do me a favor,
and don't say it's fascinating.
- No, but it is interesting.
(speaking in alien language)
(speaking in alien language)
- Now, if you spoke Klingon,
you'd know that means:
- Perhaps today is a good day to die!
- Or you could just use
a universal translator.
We have devices that translate
phrases into specific languages.
Our only problem is, the
language has to be predetermined.
But voice recognition is
advancing considerably.
Our computers just need the
available data to translate with.
So, they're not universal just yet.
- Damnit man, I'm a
doctor not a physicist.
- Help it, treat it.
- I'm a doctor, not a brick layer.
- Your a healer, there's a patient.
That's an order.
- Damnit Jim, I'm a doctor,
not a telemetry sensor.
Well, actually I'm neither
but Star Trek's tricorders
could measure all things
medical and environmental.
Today, NASA actually
has a handheld device,
called a LOCAD that measures
unwanted microorganisms.
And other handhelds help doctors
examine blood flow and bacteria.
Qualcomm even has a contest for the
creation of an affordable,
non-invasive handheld
that can detect at least
15 medical conditions.
Like an elementary tricorder.
- [Voiceover] Thank goodness.
- Goodness had nothing to do with it.
Three to beam up.
- I am Locutus of Borg.
Resistance is futile.
- We obviously now have video conferencing
like they did on the
bridge of the enterprise.
But did you know that we are developing
immersive telepresence kits that
combine audio, video, and lighting,
so that it feels like we're in the same
room with someone hundreds of miles away?
And let me tell you, nothing feels better
than saying "let them eat static",
when the feed goes down on
your bosses' end of the call.
- They're requesting communications, sir.
- Let them eat static.
- Something's not right here.
- Was this man always standing right here?
- Even though Geordi la Forge was blind
on Star Trek, The Next Generation,
his visor let him see through the
electromagnetic spectrum.
In 2005, scientists in Stanford
implanted chips in blind rats that
worked very similar to that visor,
processing light from glasses
into signals to the brain.
- Fascinating.
- What?
- That is a human expression.
- Yes.
- Fascinating.
- Fascinating.
So what Star Trek technology do you
most want to become real?
Let us know in the comments,
and check out our original list:
ten Star Trek technologies that actually
came true on Howstuffworks.com.
For everything from tractor beams
to torpedo coffins, my name's Jonathan,
and I have been, and always
shall be, your friend.
- There are!
Four lights!
(piano key)
- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.
