Real-Life Tricorder Could Find Land Mines, Tumors
11th November 2015
In the Star Trek universe, tricorders are used for applications ranging from disease diagnosis to analyzing the atmosphere on an alien planet. Now a team of scientists might have created a tricorder for our own universe. The device would use electromagnetic waves to detect explosives in the ground, and it might even help diagnose cancer. The researchers from Stanford University published a study about the device in Applied Physics Letters.
The researchers were presented with a challenge from DARPA to create a device that can detect non-metal explosives buried underground, but it can’t touch the object for fear of detonating it. Using microwaves to detect the objects seemed like a great strategy. All materials heat up when they absorb the waves, but different molecules do so at different rates, causing them to vibrate and emit characteristic ultrasound waves. If the researchers could detect the specific ultrasound waves, they could find the buried plastic explosive.
‘Damn it, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a sniffer dog!’