5 Trek inventions I'd like to see...

Life imitates Star Trek once again – this time by researchers at Purdue University, which have created a handheld sensing system that its creators compare to the science fiction show's chemical analyzer. Purdue's device can do things like test foods for dangerous bacterial components, including salmonella, as well as detect cancer in the liver to explosives residue on luggage.

According to a Purdue University news release, the device is a "miniature mass spectrometer combined with a technique called desorption electrospray ionization (DESI)." The device and technique was developed by a team of researchers led by R. Graham Cooks, a professor of analytical chemistry at Purdue's College of Science. Unlike conventional mass spectrometers, the Purdue device weighs under 20 pounds and can be used in the field, much like the Star Trek tricorder. Officials say the device has been used to analyze clothes, foods and tablets, and could identify the presence of cocaine on $50 bills in under a second.

Two companies have been formed on the basis of the DESI process and the device, including Prosolia Inc. in Indianapolis, and Griffin Analytical Technologies of West Lafayette, Ind.

Good move on the part of Purdue to liken this to a Star Trek device – other technologies, like the personal digital assistant, and wireless voice communications, owe at least parts of their beginnings to the world of science fiction or even Star Trek.

Now that we're on our way to a real tricorder, here are five other devices / technologies from the sci-fi genre I'd like to see researchers get started on:

1) Transporter. Let's stop messing around with air travel and just start beaming people around.

2) Food replicator. I'm sick of having to travel to McDonald's to get a Shamrock Shake. I want to push a button and have it appear instantly.

3) Warp drive technology. Forget about the moon or Mars, we've got to figure out a way to get to another galaxy. Then we can leave Al Gore behind and ruin another planet.

4) Time machine. While we're at it, let's get cooking on this. I don't care about traveling to the past, I want to see what humanity looks like in 500 years.

5) Laser gun. These have already been developed by some military groups (I've seen stories), but I want the handheld version that Han Solo used. And yes, Han shot first.