14 DAY TRIAL // Science fiction books, videos, movies and games have taught us that a future of laser guns, jet packs, space travel and breathing underwater is inevitable. But not even the authors of such books know how close they are to the truth. Here is a list of six incredible devices that will soon be made commercially available, as compiled by New Scientist.
X-ray goggles have been depicted in various books, and even some superheroes have it. However, in truth, creating a mobile platform shaped like glasses to house the ability of seeing through solid objects is not that far away. Cambridge Consultant engineers in the UK have designed the Prism 200, a briefcase-sized device that emits ultra-wide band radar signals through the thickest walls, and listens for echoes. Depending on the input, it can asses if there are people inside, and where each of them is located.
Invisibility devices are indispensable to any self-respecting sci-fi book, and yet few authors use them now, on account of the fact that they became reality as far back as 2006. Even recently, meta-materials have been used to conceal a small object from people viewing it in visible light. Granted, the technique only works in two dimensions, but progress on the matter is unavoidable.
Hands-free healing is considered to be the prerogative of ascended beings in the SF literature. Nonetheless, human researchers have decided to start designing such devices, and even take them one step further. The prototypes now in the making will also feature the possibility to heal wounds using high-frequency sound waves. Literally, the most severe internal injuries will disappear in a “flash.”
Portable electricity generators sound bulky and cumbersome, but a shirt designed by Zhong Lin Wang, a scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, can provide sufficient energy to even the most sophisticated cell phone. The invention is not made of cotton or wool, but of zinc-oxide nanowires, which are placed on strands of Kevlar. Friction caused by movement triggers the generation of tiny electric currents, which offer enough juice for any portable device.
Jet packs have captured the imagination of SF fans like no other gadget depicted in the thousands of books and movies of the genre. Humans have been building such devices for more than 50 years, but they all have limited range and are fairly unsafe. The Martin Aircraft Company of Christchurch, New Zealand, has created a jet pack that is fitted with two turbojet engines, which generate lift for propellers. The gadgets costs $100,000, and can fly for about 30 minutes on a single tank, or 50 kilometers.
Going to space, on the other hand, is maybe the most sought-for achievement in the history of human kind. Regular options are very costly, even with the introduction of commercial space flights, which require as few as $95,000 for a trip to orbit. But how do personal spaceships sound? Lightcraft Technologies engineer Leik Myrabo says that fuel-less spaceships could take people to orbit at a time of their choosing, riding a beam of microwaves shot forward from the ground. The advantage of this idea is that the price of a single conventional launch (about $100 million) could offset the costs for 1,000 microwave-powered ones.