5 TECHNOLOGIES WE FIRST SAW ON STAR TREK

CELLPHONE

The original Star Trek’s communicator looks like a flip phone and operates like an advanced two-way radio. It even has voice commands.

TRACTOR BEAM

In real life, these only work on microscopic particles, not spaceships. But in 2020, they allowed scientists to hold a single atom for the first time.

TABLET

In 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced the handheld Personal Access Display Device (PADD), which held reports the crew passed to each other.

UNIVERSAL TRANSLATOR

Google and Twitter have near-universal language detection in text, just short of Star Trek’s convenient, automatic verbal translator.

GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE

The first primitive GUI predates the series’ iconic computer menus, but most people had to wait decades to use one.