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Boldly Going Where No Research Team Has Gone Before

Published December 10, 2014 at 1:25 PM EST
Members of the Final Frontier Medical Devices team geeked out in Star Trek gear, with the fictional device that inspired the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE. From left: brothers George, Basil and Gus Harris. (Not pictured: Phil Charron, Julia Harris, Andy Singer and Ed Hepler.) (Photo courtesy of XPRIZE)
Members of the Final Frontier Medical Devices team geeked out in Star Trek gear, with the fictional device that inspired the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE. From left: brothers George, Basil and Gus Harris. (Not pictured: Phil Charron, Julia Harris, Andy Singer and Ed Hepler.) (Photo courtesy of XPRIZE)

Turns out some of the gear on the Starship Enterprise that the crew relied on to explore the universe had a bit of influence on a generation of scientists and developers who watched “Star Trek” as kids.

From the Here & Now Contributors Network, Zack Seward brings us the story of a high-stakes medical device competition inspired by the Sci-Fi classic and a research team in Philadelphia that is boldly going — into the finals.

The Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE offers a $10 million in prize money to build the next great consumer-focused health tool.

Reporter

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