Okay fellow Trek Fans, “hold on to yer hats and glasses, cuz this here’s the wildest ride in the Universe!” Star Trek predicts (or is that, directs) the future once again. We just found reports of a functional holodeck. Notice we didn’t say “fully” functional, as it doesn’t have force-field or replicator technology yet, but with the aid of fancy 3D glasses it’s pretty close. …Computer, Arch!

This Holodeck is actually the Duke immersive Visual Environment (DiVE), a six-sided structure that, when sealed, becomes a seamless virtual reality atmosphere built to enhance teaching, research and design planning. The chamber is 10 feet on each side. Each wall, including the floor and ceiling, functions as a large computer screen. Six computers control full-color projectors - one per wall - and a seventh is the master computer.

You may remember us reporting on advancements in cloaking technology in earlier articles . It seems that they’ve come up with new applications for this budding tech. A new mathematical theory takes current cloaking technology in several directions at once. One of the new applications can potentially cloak events in both time and space.

Watching "Star Trek: Generations", who hasn't wanted their very own version of Stellar Cartography. Thanks to NASA, it's now available. Called "Eyes on the Solar System" and developed by Caltech & JPL, it's a 3-D environment full of real NASA mission data. According to the "Eyes on the Solar System" website you can explore the cosmos from your computer. Hop on an asteroid. Fly with NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft. See the entire solar system moving in real time. It's up to you. You control space and time.

Quantum entanglement is a theory that dates back to Einstein, something he called "spooky action at a distance". Theoretical physicists believe that this "entanglement" could be a way of transporting objects across galaxies.

"According to the quantum theory, everything vibrates," theoretical physicist Michio Kaku tells NPR's Guy Raz. "When two electrons are placed close together, they vibrate in unison. When you separate them, that's when all the fireworks start."

"An invisible umbilical cord emerges connecting these two electrons. And you can separate them by as much as a galaxy if you want. Then, if you vibrate one of them, somehow on the other end of the galaxy the other electron knows that its partner is being jiggled."

We all know the iconic four fingers on the face and chant "My mind, to your mind. Your thoughts, to my thoughts", other wise known as the Vulcan Mind Meld. Spock has used it numerous times to get the Enterprise and her crew out of immediate peril. Heck, he even used it to on Kim Catrall, but unfortunately her brain was empty. Apparently, scientists are now showing that good conversations can cause brain coupling and "may shed light on the mechanisms by which our brains interact and bind to form societies." Sounds like a Vulcan mind meld, right? Well, sort of.

What starship isn't complete without it's tractor beam?  Well, maybe the Enterprise-B, but that's a different story.  Israeli scientists are working on what they call "Optical Tweezers" or Holographic Optical Tweezers (HOTs for short).  We call it a mini-tractor beam, that's right, something Geordi would have whipped up using his visor and some of Data's inner-workings.  Plus, it has the word holographic in the name.  That's like having a cellular peptide cake with mint frosting...and eating it too.  Just watch out for interphasic organisms because they consume cellular pept.... okay, maybe I took that a little too far.

Curing radiation sickness and even knocking out the occasional alien intruder, the hypospray has been a staple of Star Trek since the first season of TOS. Every Doctor from Phlox & McCoy to Crusher & Bashir have wielded some form of the all curing device. It appears that the fabled hypospray has finally made the transition from science fiction to real medical science.

"Standard orbit, Mr. Sulu." Captain Kirk barks out the order with such confidence. He knows the USS Enterprise can slip in and out of planetary orbits with ease. But it's only easy in the realm of science fiction. In the real world, such maneuvers have been impossible --until now.

Enter Dawn, NASA's cutting edge mission to the asteroid belt.

Powered with a futuristic sounding new technology called "ion propulsion," this spacecraft will perform space moves rivaling those of the Enterprise.

At this very moment, Dawn is slowly climbing away from the sun, beyond Mars, on its way to its first destination, asteroid Vesta. Dawn will enter "standard orbit" around this rocky world for a year, exploring its mysteries.

Lasers and nano-technology are not just for the Enterprise sick bay anymore.  Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital are working on new ways of sealing wounds using techniques perfected by Dr. Crusher.

Last year, the military’s research agency, Darpa, requested proposals for instant injury repair using adult stem cells, and Pentagon scientists are already doing human trials of spray-on skin.