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Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver a Step Closer To Reality

Posted by samzenpus on from the daleks-are-coming dept.

cylonlover writes "A University of Dundee research team led by Prof. Mike MacDonald has demonstrated that both levitation and twisting forces can be applied to an object by application of ultrasonic beams. The team of physicists at the University of Dundee in Scotland (with associates at Bristol University in England) have succeeded in generating an ultrasonic vortex beam strong enough to lift and rotate a rubber disk submerged in water. This latest breakthrough is part of a wide-ranging U.K. research effort to develop a device not unlike the "sonic screwdriver" made famous by the TV series Doctor Who." We covered the beginning of the sonic screwdriver project by Bristol University engineers a little over a year ago.

19 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. too bad.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    To bad the sonic screwdriver got turned into a "Magic Wand" in the new series. Now it does anything the writers want it to do.

    1. Re:too bad.. by ThunderBird89 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It was a magic wand in the old series too, after a time. That's exactly why it got written out after a while, resulting in the Fifth Doctor going "hands free", as Tenant put it.

      --
      Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
    2. Re:too bad.. by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Informative

      That is always a problem with Science Fiction. You have a writing paradox where the man from the future/advanced race. Has technology far exceeding our normal understanding, however if you use such technology you are using techno-babble to solve your plots.

      Lets say you have a Multi-Tool and you are thrown back to the Stone age Cave man. In their mindset your Multi-tool may not seem like a threatening object, small leather pouch. Compared to the Large clubs, and spears with sharp (largish) arrow heads this collapsed multi-tool may not seem like a threat, and say you are locked into a wooden cage. You could just use the saw attachment to cut the wood and your free. If this was a stone age science fiction it would be like you multi-tool has a tool for every situation.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  2. I bet theirs works... by scrib · · Score: 4, Funny

    I bet THEIR Sonic Screwdriver works on WOOD!

    --
    Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
  3. Sonic screwdriver in Dr. Who is actually MAGICAL. by Danathar · · Score: 2

    In the series the screwdriver can do just about anything as long as it's not wood that it's working on (or some biological stuff). The good Doctor uses it to do just about everything. I seriously doubt we have the ability to create a magical device that can by pointing at a computer made by an alien species do what we want.

  4. Screw that ... by Old97 · · Score: 2

    I'm holding out for K9.

    --
    Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok
  5. Pedantic by nine-times · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sorry, I'm going to be a little pedantic here, but the sonic screwdriver doesn't really have any set of capabilities to emulate. Something like the tricorder at least has some vague definition-- it's a set of sensors that can tell you about the material composition and structure of items at a distance.

    But the sonic screwdriver? How the device works is something like, "point it at anything in order to get the writers out of the corner they've painted themselves into". There's nothing that it can not do, except apparently that it doesn't work on wood. How are you going to build that, and how will you know when you've succeeded?

  6. Re:Very cool by Yvan256 · · Score: 2

    "Ultrasonic Vortex Beamer" would be a crappy supervillain name.

  7. Re:Sonic screwdriver in Dr. Who is actually MAGICA by Jiro · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is a case of feature creep.

    In Fury from the Deep it was used to open things--exactly how you'd expect a futuristic, but single purpose, device to work. He uses it to weld in the Dominators, which is the start of it getting extra properties. The War Games again uses it to open things, but it became an out of control plot device soon after that.

    That's why they destroyed it in the Visitation. The new series brought it back and it seemed to have been an out of control plot device from the very start.

  8. Sci-Fi aside by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's still pretty damn cool. I mean, c'mon - moving shit with sound? I can see this tech coming in handy for shipwreck recovery, among other applications I haven't thought of yet...

    Wonder how well it works outside a liquid medium...

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  9. Wonder how it does... by Nitewing98 · · Score: 2

    I wonder how it does on deadlock seals? Or baby seals, for that matter.

    --

    Nitewing '98

    Everything works...in theory.

    1. Re:Wonder how it does... by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 2

      I wonder how it does on deadlock seals? Or baby seals, for that matter.

      As large as the Matt Smith era sonic screwdriver is, I'm pretty confident you can bludgeon a baby seal with it, no problem.

  10. Clarke's third law by Overzeetop · · Score: 3, Funny

    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    1. Re:Clarke's third law by Auroch · · Score: 5, Funny

      Any sufficiently repeated quote is indistinguishable from intelligent thought

      Fixed that for you.

      --
      Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
  11. SONIC screwdriver? by Haedrian · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Dr. Who's Sonic Screwdriver a Step Closer To Reality"

    "application of ultrasonic beams"

    Surely what we're making here is an ultrasonic screwdriver.

  12. Re:Sonic screwdriver in Dr. Who is actually MAGICA by cpu6502 · · Score: 2

    In case you haven't noticed, most science fiction TV is really fantasy fiction.

    The things they do on shows like Who and Star Trek and Stargate are impossible in the real world, just like Harry Potter is impossible. The only show that could be called Science fiction is Babylon 5, though it too made some errors (the whitestar measured -400 celsius temperature on Jupiter). It's hard to make real honest-to-goodness science-based stories, especially on a TV schedule with one episode filmed every 10 days.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  13. Honestly by s73v3r · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, "Hey, this could be more sonic!"?

  14. Re:Sonic screwdriver in Dr. Who is actually MAGICA by s73v3r · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's because they're not really supposed to be science based. Any good science fiction is about the people involved, not the technology. The tech is just a backdrop.

  15. Re:Sonic screwdriver in Dr. Who is actually MAGICA by s_p_oneil · · Score: 2

    Next they'll make it talk so it can say "Damnit Doctor, I'm a screwdriver, not a blow-torch!"