DigitMemo.com

The tricorder from Star Trek was a pretty fancy piece of equipment. Wave it around, let it make an odd whistling sound for a few seconds, and it could tell you almost anything, from the presence of nearby life forms to the chemical composition of a particular rock.
It might seem far-fetched, but Marc Reisch at Chemical & Engineering News reckons some very similar devices might soon become a reality.
Reisch writes that many scientific instrument makers are working hard to make portable and rugged versions of mass spectrometers, infrared spectrophotometers, ion detectors and other devices. He presents an interesting survey of the field - X-ray fluorescent analysers, flash luminescent analysers, ion detection units and more. You name it, it seems someone is trying to fit it into a convenient hand-held device.
A lot of the push has come from terrorism fears, Reisch says, as military and law-enforcement officials look for ways to spot explosives, chemical weapons and contaminants more effectively.
“If God made it, we can test for it,” says Richard Begley of PerkinElmer, a Massachusetts-based instrument maker . “A day will come when people will want to know the details of what is in the water they drink, the air they breathe, and the food they eat.”
First we had flip-up cellphones that looked like Star Trek communicators; then Bluetooth earpieces that look a lot like the earpiece Lieutenant Uhura wore. Soon there will be tricorders too. As the 21st century progresses, life increasingly imitates Star Trek.

Source: newscientist