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A Real-Life Sonic Screwdriver?

Photo: Thinkgeek.com

Doctor Who has, of course, a sonic screwdriver.  According to a press release from the University of Bristol in England, someday, you might just have one, too, not a toy replica, not a drink, but the real thing.  Engineers at the University are, according to the press release, working on making a real sonic screwdriver, to which one can only say, YES, I WANT ONE, PLEASE.

Bruce Drinkwater, Professor of Ultrasonics — now, there’s a job — has been working with The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair, and they decided to come up with a real-life screwdriver that uses soundwaves to loosen or tighten screws, and did I say I want one?  Because I do.

Deeper in the press release, they sort of back off the idea that this could be imminent, but they ARE experimenting with ultrasonic waves and they’re hoping the work will inspire future scientists and engineers, as if Doctor Who wasn’t inspiration enough.  It’s all really just a promotion for that Big Bang exhibition (which is in London March 10th through 12th, in case you’re interested).  But the mere mention of the possibility of a real sonic screwdriver raises hope that other fictional devices might someday be real.  Hoverboards?  Lightsabers?  Optimus Prime?  Which do you want to see become real?

After all, we were promised jetpacks….

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Comments

  1. Lizzy says:

    it would be so cool to get a hover board and a sonic screwdriver and ride around and sonic things

  2. CK says:

    Screw everything else! I WANT A SONIC SCREWDRIVER. OMFG! I have the toy one from thinkgeek but a real one would be so frakking cool!

  3. michael says:

    I’d want a hoverboard and the holodeck from startrek that would be so awesome as a gamer.

  4. Wesley Marshall says:

    Holy shit!! I want that now! You have no idea. But I think only Who fans should receive them, because they’ll use it for good. That and I don’t want people who aren’t Who fans to have them. They will not appreciate it like the Who fans will.

  5. Coconutphone says:

    Love the idea of a real sonic screwdriver but damn yeah I want a hoverboard.

  6. andoran_g33k says:

    Holodec, lightsaber, hoverboard, TARDIS, and sonic screwdriver. Emphasis on the TARDIS. Focus on that one, please. Or at least a galaxy-class starship. I hear CERN’s making great leaps with that one! 😀

  7. Deltus says:

    I want both a lightsaber and a hoverboard, because I think with the combo of those two, you would be virtually unstoppable.

  8. Taylor Reschka says:

    I would really love to see not only hover boards, but those 3d Comm. units AKA hologram. I mean we have to be close on that I mean come on! with the xbox kinect and Face time…FIGURE IT OUT SCIENTISTS! They had that movie about the Hologram computer which name escapes me. I also want Dexter’s Inflatable suit!