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The Rapidly Changing Face of Computing (RCFoC)

Insight, analysis, and commentary on the innovations and trends of contemporary computing, and the technologies that drive them

From Science Fiction, To Science...
Star Trek - The Reality?

It seems that one of Star Trek's "innovations" is becoming real. Under certain conditions, according to the May 4 American Association for the Advancement of Science's "Science Package," scientists have demonstrated a form of "Tractor Beam!"

"Shrink the Star Trek tractor beam down to a microscopic scale, add the ability to twirl the objects trapped in its path, and you'd have a system much like the one described by Scottish researchers. Using specialized lasers, L. Paterson and colleagues have devised a way to spin even the most delicate microscopic objects- from a hamster chromosome to a glass bead-without damaging them. This system may give researchers an unprecedented amount of control for manipulating objects in living cells or components of micro machines."

From: "Controlled Rotation of Optically Trapped Microscopic Particles" by L. Paterson, M. P. MacDonald, J. Arlt, W. Sibbett, P. E. Bryant and K. Dholakia at St. Andrews U. in Fife, Scotland -http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/aaas-ldm042601.html (additional information is at http://www.sciam.com/news/050401/3.html .)

And, Going Up?

Then, just to add more fuel to the "science fiction to science fact" bandwagon, the May 2 SpaceDaily.com describes how Arthur C. Clarke's novel, "The Fountains of Paradise" which describes a "space elevator," has now passed from the realm of science fiction to science possibility.

(A "space elevator" is basically a cable strung between the ground and a space station in geosynchronous orbit. Sending materials up this cable, as in an elevator, is estimated to reduce the cost of lifting a kilogram of material into orbit from today's $22,000, to $1.48.)

It seems that the carbon nanotubes that we discussed last issue in the context of tiny transistors, have a tensile strength 100 times greater than steel, which just happens to be quite strong enough so that a 47,000 kilometer cable won't snap under its own weight. (Do read the article, at http://www.spacedaily.com/news/future-01f.html , if the concept of an elevator to orbit is, understandably, hard to fathom.)

Of course, there are more than "just a few matters of engineering," both at the nano and at the macro levels, before such an exploit could (dare I say it), take off. But the fact of the matter is that when Mr. Clarke explored this concept in 1979, the strongest materials available at that time couldn't begin to fashion such a cable. Twenty-two years later, that material now exists, even if the longest piece is currently measured in millionths of a meter rather than in thousands of meters. But what of twenty-two years from now? Perhaps, again, just "a little matter of engineering?"

The "impossible" takes just a little longer...

Quote of the Week

"By 2005, an estimated 35 billion e-mail messages will be sent daily -- six daily messages for each person on the planet. There will be a billion e-mail accounts by that time, [an] IDC study said. An overwhelming 94 percent of all U.S. adults online -- more than 73 million people -- access their e-mail at least once a month, according to market research firm Cyber Dialogue." (from April 4, 2001 Yahoo! News (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nf/20010404/tc/8695_1.html)

Jeffrey R Harrow

This is an Exclusive to it@tt excerpt from the "Rapidly Changing Face of Computing", a free weekly multimedia technology journal written by Jeffrey R. Harrow, Principal Member of Technical Staff for the Corporate Strategy group at Compaq. A more extensive version of this discussion, as well as others around the innovations and trends of contemporary computing and the technologies that drive them, are available at http://www.compaq.com/rcfoc. Jeff's opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Compaq. The RCFoC is a service of, and Copyright 2001, Compaq Computer Corp. All Rights Reserved.

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