Individual Project: Is it possible to create a real-life Doctor Who style sonic screwdriver?

A hero not wielding a fatal weapon of any kind, instead he wields a sonic screwdriver – designed to unlock doors, scan science-y things, manipulate machines, that is the weapon of the Doctor. The Doctor and his trusty Sonic Screwdriver, BBC’s Doctor Who has been around since 1963, since then many science geek fans has envisioned themselves wielding a sonic screwdriver like the Doctor. The modern sonic screwdriver used in the Modern Doctor Who is quite a bit different from the sonic screwdriver used from the second Doctor Patrick Troughton of Classic Doctor Who era. In Classic Who, the sonic screwdriver basically just unlocks doors by propelling sonic energies to bolts, however in the Modern Who, the sonic screwdriver leveled up as well. Today, it has scanning capabilities, medical applications, and various other applications the Doctor needs for saving the universe.

Today, scientists and engineers are finding ways to replicate and mimic the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. Professor Bruce Drinkwater, a professor of sonics at the Bristol University, hopes that the sonics will be the future of our society by manipulating miniscule objects with the ever progressing nano technologies.Professor Drinkwater developed a device based on a small, electronic and easily integrated ultrasonic known as sonotweezer. He hopes that this device will eventually help in tissue engineering of micro and nano-materials, particle/cell sorting and counting, bioassay technology, and also for sensing and detection. An example of this is for forensic science, detecting banned particulants in narcotics and chemicals.

Dr. Mark Thurber of New York University has developed a mathematical model for sound frequency oscillator design, and work applications that make use of low-frequency oscillators to convert sound into energy, in 2004. That low-frequency sound produces a pressure differential on two opposite sides of an object that causes an object to move.

Now in their fourth year of research and experimentation, PhD students at the Bristol laboratory are working laboriously in fine tuning frequencies and upgrading their devices to produce better results. Their experiments involve silicone particles immersed n fluid in a petri dish. Transducers that transmit energy controlled via an electronic module surround the petri dish, and then when the sonic charge is applied, the particles immediately line up.

Another group of researchers in the Dundee University claim to have invented a real-life Doctor Who style sonic screwdriver. Their prototype has successfully used ultrasound waves to lift and rotate a rubber disc in a cylinder of water.

These inventions and discoveries are still a far-cry form the Time Lord invention of the Doctor. The experiments have exhibited signs and results that suggest the large possibility of developing a true Doctor ho style sonic screwdriver in the future. The researches exhibit a lot of potential for our society especially for medication, chemical and particle detection, a bit of levitation , and a lot of house breaking. With our very fast moving and advancing technology it is not impossible to expect a very useful tool like the sonic screwdriver in the future, with lots of other functions and uses to make our live easier. One day “sonicking” will be a phenomenon for everyone.

Aleczandra S. De La Paz

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11th Doctor (Matt Smith) and the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) holding their own versions of the sonic screwdriver.

Screen caps of the experiment prototype of a group of researchers from Dundee University.

 Sources:

Engineers race to create a real sonic screwdriver, http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2013/08/real-sonic-screwdriver.cfm, Retrieved March 5, 2014

Making a real sonic screwdriver, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-17770739 , Retrieved March 8, 2014

Scientists create working 'sonic screwdriver', http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/scientists-create-working-sonic-screwdriver-726186, Retrieved March 9, 2014