Behind on your bills? Want to take that dream vacation? Here’s a quick way to score some cash: invent a tricorder! You remember, it was that little gadget Bones McCoy used in Star Trek to quickly scan someone’s body and find out what was wrong with them. Come to think of it, Bones didn’t really have to be that much of a doctor if he had a tricorder. The Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize will give away $10 million to the first person or team to come up with, says the BBC, “a tool capable of capturing ‘key health metrics and diagnosing a set of 15 diseases’.
It needs to be light enough for would-be Dr McCoys to carry – a maximum weight of 5lb (2.2kg).”
I can think of way more important Star Trek innovations that need to be built before the dang tricorder:
– Beaming people up
– Holodeck
– Acting lessons for Shatner
– Comfortable outfits for Klingons
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