‘Star Trek’-like medical devices could soon be on the International Space Station

Doctors in the 24th century of the Star Trek universe have access to some incredible technologies for healing wounds and relieving pain. Here in the real world, these futuristic science fiction devices are set to become present day reality, as NASA and Texas-based GRoK industries team up to develop two new technologies for testing on the International Space Station.

One of the technologies is called Scionic, which the press release says will be "medical devices designed to target musculoskeletal pain and inflammation in humans and animals noninvasively and without the use of pharmaceuticals." There are some current products out there that do this sort of thing. Scenar, which was developed for the Russian Space Agency and is now commercially available, sends a mild electrical signal into the area of the body that's experiencing pain or inflammation. This stimulates a response from the brain to release neuropeptides, which the body uses to heal itself and control pain.

It's still a far cry from stitching up cuts and healing wounds simply by aiming a beam of light at them, but it could certainly help astronauts, both current and future, overcome problems with muscle atrophy and lost of bone minerals and bone density.

The second technology is called BioReplicates, which sounds a bit like a combination of medical scanner and holodeck rolled into one. According to the press release, this system "will allow users to create 3-D human tissue models that can be used to test cosmetics, drugs and other products for safety, efficacy and toxicity with greater accuracy, reliability and cost-efficiency." This could allow astronauts to model the effects of anything that could affect them on long space journeys — drugs, infections, or even radiation doses. Sounds pretty Star Trek to me.

"It's not just science fiction anymore," Moshe Kushman, GRoK's founder and CEO said in the press release. "All indications are that 21st century life sciences will change dramatically during the next several decades, and GRoK is working to define the forefront of a new scientific wave."

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These aren't the only technologies that have drawn their inspiration from Star Trek recently.

Hand-held medical scanners are starting to go far beyond what the medical tricorder has been shown to do. Virtual reality simulators like CAVE2 and Oculus Rift are bringing us closer to the Holodeck. Students have even investigated just how feasible teleportation would be (although you'd still never get me into one). NASA is also working on a possible warp drive.

We won't be boarding the Enterprise to fly around the galaxy anytime soon, but we do seem to be making more science fiction into science reality all the time.

(Image courtesy: Paramount/Wikimedia Commons)

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