Every Star Trek geek has dreamed of this day. We’ve all dreamed of setting our phasers to stun and making use of the Holodeck. Those two innovations aren’t quite here, but it seems like we’re getting closer to tractor beams.

Unlike regular lasers that push things away by plastic them with photons, a tractor beam would effectively be a laser that pulls things toward them. To do this, the Hong Kong scientists need something called a Bessel beam.

Also unlike regular lasers, Bessel beams remain focused at an infinite distance, rather than dispersing as it gets away from its source. Perhaps more interestingly, the Bessel beam is able to reconstruct itself past obstacles. It cannot be blocked.

Without digging too much into the science side of things, what this means it that scientists may be able to generate a large enough concentration of energy on the far side of the object and minimize the concentration of energy on the near side. The net result: the object is “pushed” toward the origin of the Bessel beam.

That’s some crazy stuff. Too bad, for now, it sounds like this is all theory and no practice. Where is Locutus of Borg when you need him?

[Giz via Arxiv.org]

Photo: Thomas Harriman

The Blaze NDS Lite 3-in-1 Game Selector attaches to the back of your Nintendo DS Lite and there is a cable that fits into where you would normally slot your NDS game cartridge. Attached to the other end of the cable is a case that holds three game cartridges.

To swap between the three games, all you have to do is hit the switch and you’ll see the corresponding green indicator light. Using this, you never have to take out a cartridge to replace it with another; just hit the switch. That’s pretty cool.

There are at least a couple of things holding back this idea, however. First, it adds significant bulk to the “hood” of your Nintendo DS Lite, but it is pretty convenient. Second, I’m not entirely sure how compatible it is with the new Nintendo DSi, but it might work.

Retail price through some Hong Kong retailer is about US$13.

Source: Gadgetreview