Excerpt & Covers For Star Trek Magazine #34

The latest official Star Trek Magazine (#34) is on newsstands now. This theme of the latest issue is Star Trek science and today we have an excerpt on an article about "Treknology" by Dr. Chris Dows. Check that out below plus both covers for STM #34.

 

STAR TREK MAGAZINE ISSUE 34 EXCERPT – TREKNOLOGY

The latest issue of Star Trek Magazine features a very special edition of our regular Treknology column, in which Dr. Chris Dows assesses just how close we have already come to some of the technology seen in Star Trek 350 years before the Enterprise-D set sail. The tour begins in the Ready Room…

Having got a nod of permission from Captain Picard, let’s stroll into his ready room and start our tour. We’ll resist the temptation of ordering ‘Tea. Earl Grey. Hot,’ because while there are machines in production that can replicate engineering parts automatically out of high-density plastics and alloys, restructuring atoms for a hot drink works along the same lines as a transporter – so we’ll just put the kettle on instead. Some things look immediately familiar; there’s a desktop monitor roughly the same size and shape as the millions of TFT and LED screens available around the world, hooked into an optical network allowing fast and secure data transfer between servers and host machines. It has more than a passing resemblance to the Internet both conceptually and mechanically, so it looks as though we’re on a Trek-becomes-reality roll.

Before we leave Livingston to get on with his swimming, let’s briefly consider what keeps the captain’s lionfish, and indeed everything else, from floating aimlessly around the room. It is possible to simulate the effects of gravity through the rotation of a spacecraft in flight thanks to Newton’s Third Law and the effect of centripetal force, but the radius of the ship’s hull would have to be very wide combined with a relatively slow rate of spin to get around the detrimental effects on the bodies of the crew as they moved towards or away from the center of rotation. The idea of using magnetic fields similar to the artificial gravity plating underfoot has been investigated by the space exploration community; unfortunately, current technology would generate fields so intense they’d eventually kill anyone exposed to them. However, like so much ‘impossible’ Treknology, it only takes the development of a key material to increase the chance of its existence. As an example, let’s take a look through Captain Picard’s viewing window – glass as strong as steel was crucial to saving the whales in Star Trek IV and Scotty’s deft molecular restructuring formed one of the biggest laughs in the film, but palladium-based metallic glass is now a reality and currently being tested by Berkely Labs and CalTech in the U.S. Pretty good strike rate so far.


"Treknology" article in STM #34

More in the Star Trek Magazine 34

You can read the above article in full and more in Star Trek Magazine #34, on sale now. Here are the newsstand and comic book store exclusive cover.


Regular cover


Comic book shop exclusive cover

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I miss the big old Star Trek: The Magazine. I still have the one with the Enterprise in between the V’Ger vessel and Earth.

So do I Jeyl, so do I!

So much from Star Trek is now in our daily lives. Communicators and Tricorders and Desk top Computers and the Padds you seen in Tng and well. So much of Sci fi in Trek is becoming Science Fact. It just Amazes me what Trek has shown us.

Love that cover with Doohan! It really captures the essence of the character he created: professional, skilled, with just a hint of bewilderment.

And not goofy! (I’m looking at you, Simon Pegg.)

can’t wait to buy it!

Since friday already I have this magazine …. in ARGENTINA!!! thanks!! the worldwide suscription realy works!

“With all due respect, sir” I’m way more interested in the article about Scotty than the one you’ve quoted above.
And I’m loving that Collectors Edition Cover! Any chance of this being available in the UK? And if so, when?

Gosh, these guys know how to make covers!

Yes I miss the old ones too, my first ever issue was issue #7. Thing is, there isn’t much that’s ‘new’ to read any more, and these days we get everything ‘online’ way way way before it’s in print in a magazine. Though I do miss those old days – I’m fed up being on a computer :(

Yay! The Real Scotty :-) Great (collectors edition) cover

Coming to Britain too? Please?

@4 I’m with you Vultan. Although I think Mr. Pegg was ‘directed’ to make the character comical.

However, Doohan was called upon to be comic relief occasionally (drinking aliens under the table and such) but it was always in character. You believed him when he said “My engines can pull us out of anything.”

So Simon, if you’re watching, please keep the above in mind. Don’t let JJ make Scotty a clown. Doohan’s picture on the cover says it all.

I tend to really pick which issues of this magazine to pick up. I should subscribe, but many months the content seems a bit light to me. Especially given the price.

I know it’s hard right now due to the fact there are no new Trek tv series and the new film hasn’t started filming quite yet.

I really enjoyed the times where they’ve done focuses on the classic films of the series. I loved the anniversary issue of The Motion Picture. They should do more of these!!!

I also have the old Star Trek magazine from 2001 about Star Trek The Motion Picture and the Director’s Edition. It’s come in handy so many times.

I’ll be taking a look at the new Trek magazine too. Maybe I’ll end up picking it up. I would like to see the content get a bit better though.

I really miss the Star Trek fan club and The Communicator magazine!!!!

The old ST mag was really, really good. I miss it too as it had many great articles regarding the various Star Fleet uniforms, ships, aliens, planets, characters/actors, producers, directors, etc.

While it is true you can get just about any of this info via the internet, its nice to go the magzine collection and pull out the issue that deals with Kirks Crew in 2266 and see the photos rith then an there without having to deal with turning the computer on, searching, and so on and so on.

I have about 15 or so of the old issues but all, the last one I got was the special edition that introduced ENT. I have been looking for back issues to fill gaps but hardly any show up at store or conventions.

I agree that the old magazine was better. These new ones are mostly filled with information any Star Trek fan already knows… like the monthly profiles on characters. A lot of it is just filler.

I like the Lost and Found column with the archival pictures from TOS. I hadn’t seen any of hose.

Doohan really embodied the professionalism of the Engineer first. All his comic relief was secondary, which unfortunately has become characterized by others. First, Scotty was an extremely competant professional.