Do We Need Real-World "Star Trek" Tricorders?

Those handy little hand-held tricorders that Star Trek characters liked to show off—as they waved them around importantly to scan alien environments—may soon be accessible to Earthlings.

I’ll never forget the joy Data got out of his tricorder. Once when he was told to scan for life forms on a new planet (shortly after his new emotion chip was installed) he exclaimed, “I would be happy to, sir. I just love scanning for life forms!”

Next thing you know he’s singing, “Life forms! You tiny little life forms! You precious little life forms! Where are you?”

Yes, it was an awkward moment for us Star Trek fans, but the point is that having a tricorder would be pretty awesome. Imagine dropping by the store tonight to buy the latest model of a Star Trek tricorder—your very own personal environmental detection device. As far fetched as that idea may seem, such devices are getting closer to reality. According to an article published in Chemical & Engineering News there’s a market for people who want to know what’s in their environment.

The article, by C&EN Senior Correspondent Marc Reisch, explains that scientific instrument makers are in the midst of an effort to expand their traditional markets, moving instruments like mass spectrometers and infrared photometers out of the lab and into the hands of the average consumer. In a world worried about terrorists, contaminated food, and airborne pollutants, instrument companies are working to design portable, inexpensive, user-friendly devices that can do the work of those laboratory mainstays.

Executives of major instrument maker predicts that such instruments will soon become readily available to consumers, including Star Trek-like devices that serve as personal environmental scanners.

“Given the proliferation of instruments alongside manufacturing lines and in battle zones, office buildings, and refineries, it just might be feasible for a consumer to walk into Home Depot someday and buy a device that today only a scientist or quality control expert would want to have,” Reisch concludes.

Sure, it’d be fun to pull out your tricorder and wave it in your smoker friend’s face while he’s taking a puff, so you can obnoxiously list off every harmful toxin emanating from his breath—but there may be a more serious need for the device. Just like on an alien planet in a Star Trek episode, knowing your environment could literally be a matter of life and death. A good tricorder could theoretically alert you to all kinds of pollutants and contaminants. For example, you may want to discreetly scan your date for tuberculosis before deciding if you’ll be giving her a goodnight kiss, or check that your burrito at a dodgy looking restaurant for signs of food-poisoning before you take a bite.

In fact, Cornell researchers recently concluded that about 40 percent of deaths worldwide are caused by water, air and soil pollution, a finding confirmed by reports from the World Health Organization. While the consequences of pollution do seem to hit developing nations the hardest, there are still plenty of dangerous pollutants in developed countries, as well.

David Pimentel, Cornell professor of ecology and agricultural sciences says, "We have serious environmental resource problems of water, land and energy, and these are now coming to bear on food production, malnutrition and the incidence of diseases."

Here are some of the conclusions of the study:

· Nearly half the world's people are crowded into urban areas where they are exposed to epidemics of such diseases as measles and flu.

· Waterborne infections account for 80 percent of all infectious diseases.

· Unsanitary living conditions account for more than 5 million deaths each year, of which more than half are children.

· Air pollution from smoke and various chemicals kills 3 million people a year. In the United States alone about 3 million tons of toxic chemicals are released into the environment—contributing to cancer, birth defects, immune system defects and many other serious health problems.

· Soil is contaminated by many chemicals and pathogens, which are passed on to humans through direct contact or via food and water.

· Microbes are becoming increasingly drug-resistant. As a result, such diseases as tuberculosis and influenza are re-emerging as major threats, while new threats have developed.

Yep, it would be nice to have our own personal tricorder these days. While it won’t help us win the war on pollution, it would at least help us dodge environmental bullets in the mean time.

Posted by Rebecca Sato