It is not merely tractor beams that have a counterpart in the real world (see previous story). Some recent work by NASA, America's space agency, has produced and broadcast a prototype moving hologram. SHIVA, the Spaceflight Holography Investigation in a Virtual Apparatus, was conceived in 1999 as an aid to conducting research in space. The "microgravity" environment found in orbit around the Earth has many advantages for scientists who want a greater understanding of physics, chemistry and biology. Unfortunately, excellent living conditions, safety and a regular home life are not among them. The answer is unmanned missions. But experiments on these still need to be controlled and observed, which is hard when the researchers cannot see what is going on.
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