Nerds around the world rejoice! Physicists have built a working prototype of the tractor beam that was used in the USS Enterprise.
Remember the "The Gamesters of Triskelion" episode from the original Star Trek series? If you do, then you witnessed one of the most seminal moments on the small screen, and the first time Captain Kirk was magically teleported to the Starship Enterprise by uttering those iconic words, “Beam me up Scotty.”
Scientists have now learned how to trap living organisms within a laser beam, enabling them to be studied at very high resolutions. Inspired by the Star Trek ‘tractor beam’, physicists from Bielefeld and Frankfurt Universities were even able to take high-resolution snapshots of DNA from a single bacteria at 0.0001 millimetres.
"Our new method enables us to take cells that cannot be anchored on surfaces and then use an optical trap to study them at a very high resolution. The cells are held in place by a kind of optical tractor beam. The principle underlying this laser beam is similar to the concept to be found in the television series Star Trek,“ said Thomas Huser, a physicist from Bielefeld University in Germany and team leader of the study.
Using strong infrared lasers, the physicists were able to trap and hold cells in a solution of fluid. While observing the cells under a microscope, the physicists were also able to move the cells freely by using two separate lasers as a guidance system.
"What's special is that the samples are not only immobilised without a substrate but can also be turned and rotated. The laser beam functions as an extended hand for making microscopically small adjustments," said Huser.
Until now, if anybody wanted to study living substances like blood cells, algae, or bacteria, it would only be possible by mounting the living organisms on a glass slide or similar substrate, before observing them under a microscope. However, this method is known to damage the cells as well as restrict them from movement, effectively compromising observations as the creatures were not in their natural and unrestricted state.
In future experiments, the physicists hope to use this method to study the interaction between two or more living cells and how germs -- like bacteria and viruses -- compromise healthy cells. For now the system only functions with microscopic living organisms, although teleporting hundreds of feet may be a while away.
The findings were subsequently been published in journal ‘Nature Communications’.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Star Trek")
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}