Remember back in March when we told you about the ultimate Star Trek themed guided tour? Well, if you can't make that one, how about a single day excursion? Geek Nation Tours has added a Star Trek themed Day-Trip called "Trek into the Valley of Fire - One Day Adventure" to their roster!

Ever want to view the films, Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness, while listening to the score being performed by a live orchestra right in front of you? Well now's your chance.

According to StarTrek.com:

Star Trek: Live in Concert is coming your way, with screenings of Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness accompanied by live symphony orchestra performances of Michael Giacchino’s scores. The Star Trek: Live in Concert tour will kick off in Europe next month with events in the UK and Switzerland, followed by U.S. premieres set for July in Houston and San Diego; the San Diego Symphony performance will coincide with the Comic-Con International. Star Trek: Live in Concert will then head to Canada in March, 2015, with additional dates to be announced.

We are super excited to announce Bye Bye, Robot's latest release... 4 NEW Star Trek: The Next Generation lithographs! Created by artist Matt Ferguson, they are vivid, beautiful, graphical representations of each of the Next Gen movies.

Like Matt's last 6 lithographs for Bye Bye, Robot, which were created to embody each of the The Original Series movies, these new 4 contain a poster for each of the TNG movies; Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek: Nemesis.

We've been seeing quite a lot of new Star Trek inspired devices being developed lately. Many of them similar to tricorders.  While several of these new diagnostic tools are focusing on the medical side of the tricorder functionality, we found one the other day (thanks to our friend Drew) that is focused on analyzing food.

This new tool, by TellSpec is designed to scan your food, right on your plate, and tell you what's in it and how much. If this new scanner hits the market, functioning as described, it will be a great tool for those watching calories for weight loss and those looking to stay within safe dietary parameters for diabetes and other health concerns. While it isn't quite to the consumer-ready phase (they're still working on making it as small and good looking as the design calls for), it is well on its way to living up to all of the goals these developers have set for it.

We’ve been subscribers of the Star Trek Starships by Eaglemoss Collections since the last Las Vegas Star Trek Convention in August, 2013. We saw them on the vendor floor and were totally hooked, but it wasn’t until the day after the convention was over (recovery day, as we like to call it) that our good friend Darren (from Trek Cast) reminded us about them and showed us the awesome books and models that he had already received for signing up, that we remembered to sign up for ourselves. Ever since then, we’ve been receiving these little metal beauties in the mail every month like clockwork.

The hardest and most rewarding thing about Deep Space 9 is that it is not episodic in nature. The stories often do not bear their full weight without being experienced in series and, like that, Avatar bears no weight without the entirety of the television run behind it. In other words, if you haven’t watched Deep Space 9 all the way to the end, this isn’t the book you’re looking for.

Would you like to combine Travel + Star Trek filming sites + Las Vegas + The Official Star Trek Convention into one mega Star Trek fanstravaganza?!?! Since I know my own answer would be "YES!!!!" I'm gonna go out on a limb as guess that you're saying "No duh!" right about now.

Well, now all of your wildest dreams can come true! Our good friends Larry Nemecek and Geek Nation Tours are teaming up again for one of the most fun and informative Star Trek tours of all time. Their "Exploring Trek Sites: Hollywood to Vegas With Larry Nemecek" is the ultimate guided tour for any Trek fan. Via private coach, you get to visit a ton of filming locations and Trek-centric sites around California, meet some of the Trek cast, compete amongst your travel-mates in trivia contests, and culminate the tour with the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention.  But don't just let me tell you about it. You can check out our podcast, with Larry and Geek Nation Tours, here.

It looks like more of Star Trek's science fiction is becoming science fact. NASA is working with a Texas-based company to develop two new devises. One that will build 3d human cells, and another one that will treat pain externally without medications. We're wondering if the Dermal Regenerator will be the next "flip phone"...

Nasa has signed a deal to create ‘novel biotechnology’ devices including a system that builds 3D human cells, and another that treats pain externally.

The gadgets will be built under patent licensing agreements in partnership with Texas-based GRoK Technologies and are the results of the agency's Technology Transfer Program.

The first device, called BioReplicates, will let users create 3D human tissue models that can be used for drug and cosmetic testing.

They will increase the ‘safety, efficacy and toxicity’ of current tests and add ‘greater accuracy, reliability and cost-efficiency.’

Nasa said the technology could help reduce animal testing, too.

The technology would work in a similar way to the dermal regenerators used in Star Trek and future models could one day heal wounds automatically.
 

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took some very cool pictures recently. Specifically of a dune field on the Martian surface in a large crater. There, the dunes in question have formed into shapes reminiscent of the Starfleet insignia. Well, we know this isn't product placement...but if it were, that's one gigantic billboard.

NASA says, "In this image of a dune field on Mars in a large crater near Mawrth Vallis, some of the dunes appear to be in a V-shaped formation. For dune fields, the spacing of individual dunes is a function of sand supply, wind speed, and topography." See their write-up here.

(Source: NASA, JPL)