Star Trek Technology - Lifeform Sensors, How They Could Work - by The Skeptics Guide to the Universe

Clip from episode 219 of the podcast "The Skeptics Guide to the Universe". Link to the full podcast episode here:
http://www.theskepticsguide.org/archive/podcastinfo.aspx?mid=1&pid=219

In this clip, the hosts answer a listener question about the plausibility of the sensors used to detect lifeform readings in Star Trek.

The Skeptics Guide to the Universe is a weekly Science podcast produced by the New England Skeptical Society (NESS) in association with the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) : discussing the latest news and topics from the world of the paranormal, fringe science, and controversial claims from a scientific point of view. Hosted by Dr. Steven Novella, Bob Novella, Rebecca Watson, Evan Bernstein and Jay Novella.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• star
• trek
• science
• technology
• lifeform
• sensor
• scanner
• skeptics
• guide
• universe

[theinquisitor]

According to the Star Trek Technical manual:

"A sophisticated array of charged cluster quark resonance scanners provide detailed biological data across orbital distances. When used in con-junction with optical and chemical analysis sensors, the lifeform analysis software is typically able to extrapolate a bioform's gross structure and deduce the basic chemical composition."

Which seems to mean nothing at all.

[websnarf]

Movement???? No dude -- the production of complex molecues, such as methane, that would otherwise oridinarily break down long before entering the atmosphere. "Dead planets" would not foster complex chemical productions without massive amounts of heat (such as volcanoes). But massive amounts of heat would preclude life as well.

[theinquisitor]

Indeed, but the Star Trek conception of lifeform sensors are able to detect life on an individual scale, even a single being in a spacesuit on an uninhabitable world, or on another ship. The detection of the presence of methane in the atmosphere wouldn't by itself allow the discernment of individual lifeforms and their locations.

[ernestmac13]

Police departments already use helicopter mounted thermal cameras, to find pot houses, fugitives, & lost people. One would think anyone with tech as advanced as the Enterprise, would have equaly as advanced thermal cameras. If our satalites can read text smaller than 1/2 an inch from space, and thats on commercial ones, let alone the military birds, they could probably scan from as far away as Mars if not further.

[KuraIthys]

OK... How about this? People are visible on satellite photos anyway. so get about a dozen ultra-high resolution cameras, across the EM spectrum. (Visible, infrared, x-ray, etc.). Get a REALLY powerful computer... Feed all of this data in together, then run a pattern matching algorithm across the entire combination. If you have good enough camera resolution, and enough processing power, you should be able to identify known forms of life. Even specific individuals if you've got a profile for them.

[KuraIthys]

@theinquisitor I suspect with a sufficiently complex collection of particle and EM detectors, you could pick out large life-forms fairly reliably. You can see humans on sattelite photographs after all. So with enough computing power and inputs picking out known lifeforms, or unknown ones which bear a close resemblance would be possible. But it becomes somewhat questionable finding completely unknown forms of life...

[ThexBorg]

One more thing....If you had a long wave Kirlian energy scanner, and it could determine living and non-living... Then you'd have a pretty good scanner at hand! Living and non-living things continuously emit Kirlian energy... And it's shown to be different for plants, animals and non-living things...

[ThexBorg]

Detecting individual life forms... Probably longer wave infrared as it travels further and expanding the wave to 'see' what it's bounced off, uv reflection, radio waves and x-rays... They all would pass through or be deflected from a life form... Then there's the emission by plants and animals of their own energy, detected at longer waves, the Kirlian Aura emitted by all living things and possibly all other objects with different wave lengths.... One more thing...

[ThexBorg]

Well there is also the decision tree approach... Using a database reference of known life forms and the environments they thrive in, matching with the parameters of the scanned environment, an exoplanet, then a course of deduction...the atmospheric content, radiation, emitted gases, life giving gases, elements and compounds detected... Amongst things like that... Then the actual detection... Then of course detection of technology like radio waves, infrared, light, audio...

[Cersia23]

I like the sonar idea though you wouldn't really have to scan the planet, you can scan the objects orbiting the planet. Are there any non-natural objects orbiting the planet (and yes you would have to define non-natural object)? I like the probe idea but on Star Trek they had scanners for that (i.e. are there any broadcast signals coming from the planet i.e. similar to analog television signals)? And then a visual flyby inspection ;).

[theinquisitor]

@ZnaxQue, it's edited, but not by me. It's from an animated gif. The Enterprise computer actually runs on Linux.

[mshaw88]

@anim8er2 but its so tiny compared to any sort of electrical activity of the atmosphere (aka lightning) that it probably wouldnt be the best way to approach it since it would most likely just look like noise

[luckystrke]

bsod lol