Leonard Nimoy sometimes noted how Star Trek technology eventually showed up in real life. His most common example was the cell phone. When the flip phone was in vogue, a cell phone strongly resembled the communicator from the original show. The iPad, as I noted some time ago, strongly resembles the Personal Access Display Device used in The Next Generation. I’ve mentioned transparent aluminum before.
Today’s entry is in the tricorder series. Dr. Peter Jansen has been working on 21st-century tricorders since the 20th century. Two of his four models are available through non-commercial licensing terms for folks to explore. The Mark-1 model looks a lot like the tricorder from the modern Star Trek spinoffs, while the Mark-2 model is a refinement in technology. Jansen may be unaware of the Tricorder X Prize for a medical tricorder, or he simply wants to focus on simpler sensing and analysis. Either way, what Jansen is doing is way cool.
Pasco Phronesis 