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Star Trek Shields Now a Possibility?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the red-alert dept.

An anonymous reader writes "British scientists have announced their intent to build a Star Trek-style magnetic shielding system to help protect astronauts from radiation. 'There are a variety of risks facing future space explorers, not least of which is the cancer-causing radiation encountered when missions venture beyond the protective magnetic envelope, or magnetosphere, which shields the Earth against these energetic particles. The Earth's magnetosphere deflects many of these particles; others are largely absorbed by the atmosphere.'"

17 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmm... by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is damn peculiar...

    (I really should have raised them)

    1. Re:Hmmm... by ez76 · · Score: 5, Funny
      Recipe for a Slashdot "science" article:
      1. Identify a nascent technology or scientific discovery, "A"
      2. Identify a cool but implausible gimmick from a vintage science fiction movie/TV show, "B"
      3. Pose headline asking: Does "A" imply "B"?
      4. Watch as jokes about vintage science fiction movie/TV show "B" ensue.
      5. Optional: Geeky sexual innuendo about the most attractive female character on "B"
      6. Generate ad impressions
    2. Re:Hmmm... by VJ42 · · Score: 4, Funny

      you forgot:
      7. ???
      and
      8. Profit!
      Sorry, but I couldn't resist. :P

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
    3. Re:Hmmm... by Cpt_Kirks · · Score: 4, Funny

      You also forgot:

      "Have poster with screen name similar to character in SciFi show make inane comment based on line from said show".

    4. Re:Hmmm... by jdray · · Score: 5, Funny

      Particularly in ST:TNG where most problems were solved by reconfiguring the deflector array to emit some heretofore unmentioned particle or wave.

      "Geordi! The shower in my quarters is broken, and I haven't bathed in days."

      "No problem, sir. I'll just reconfigure the deflector array to emit B.O. antiprotons, negating the effects emmanating from your pits."

      --
      The Spoon
      Updated 6/28/2011
  2. Maybe with this by soft_guy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe with this kind of a shielding system we might be able to put a man on the moon for real.

    --
    Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
  3. Alas by rlp · · Score: 4, Funny

    They'll probably need to leave them turned on at all times, so no one will get to say "Shields Up!".

    --
    [Insert pithy quote here]
  4. Re:Cool! by RsG · · Score: 5, Funny

    Funny, this being slashdot, I'd have thought your first choice would be either a holodeck or seven of nine. :-P
    (Though admittedly in either case the boobs in question aren't real, but hey.)

    --
    Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
  5. Fine, but dont call them 'Star Trek' shields by LibertineR · · Score: 4, Funny
    Any fool knows that the shields used on Star Trek were about heat absorbtion from Phaser fire and Photon torpedoes, also Mass deflection (ala the Tractor Beam) against asteroids and your odd ship explosion. Of Course, the shields were modified over the years to deal with Temporal Incursions and the Genesis effect, but it would be wrong these shields as simular to Star Trek.

    I hope we have cleared that up, dammit.

  6. Bees!!! by owlnation · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can they be made really small?

    Won't anyone think of the bees?

  7. oh noes, your hard-drives got pwnz0red by vivin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Captain Kirk: Raise Shields!
    Mr. Spock: Captain, may I remind you that these new shields developed by British scientists rely on Magnetic fields and as a result...
    Captain Kirk: Not now Spock!
    Chekov: Shields up, Captain!

    Lights flicker, ship powers down. Emergency lights light up**

    Captain Kirk: Spock! What happened?
    Mr. Spock: It appears that the magnetic shields have erased our hard-drives. Our ship is powerless.
    Captain Kirk: KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Disclaimer: I have no idea if magnetic shields would really erase hard-drives, but oh well! ;)

    --
    Vivin Suresh Paliath
    http://vivin.net

    I like
  8. Dont you have cable? by LibertineR · · Score: 4, Funny
    You need big, heavy cryostats full of liquified gases.

    No, no, no, dude.

    You only need bio-gel packs and iso-linear chips. But, only the green ones.

    If you use the red ones and get them mixed up, you'll need Data to save your ass.

  9. Thats OK. by pavon · · Score: 5, Funny

    As long as they can redirect primary power from the sheild to the deflector dish, I will be happy. They will have a deflector dish right? ... Right?

  10. Mods: look at his handle by pragma_x · · Score: 5, Funny

    Scotty, mod him up.

    1. Re:Mods: look at his handle by slashbob22 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Captain, I don't have the power..

      No really, I am out of mod points.

      --
      Proof by very large bribes. QED.
    2. Re:Mods: look at his handle by CptPicard · · Score: 4, Funny

      I would tell you to just make it so but it appears others already did...

      --
      I want to play Free Market with a drowning Libertarian.
  11. Re:Shield frequency modulation by yahooadam · · Score: 5, Funny

    i don't know what is more worrying, your knowledge of star trek

    or the fact you know the exact episode this happened