"A $10m (£6.5m) prize is on offer to whoever can create a Star Trek-like medical "tricorder".
"The Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize has challenged researchers to build a tool capable of capturing "key health metrics and diagnosing a set of 15 diseases".
"It needs to be light enough for would-be Dr McCoys to carry - a maximum weight of 5lb (2.2kg).
"The prize was launched at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
"According to the official Star Trek technical manual, a tricorder is a portable "sensing, computing and data communications device".
"The award organisers hope the huge prize may inspire a present-day engineer to figure out the sci-fi gadget's secret, and "make 23rd Century science fiction a 21st Century medical reality"...
"While the tricorder is obviously the stuff of science fiction, other X Prizes have become science fact.
"In 2004, the Ansari X Prize for a privately funded reusable spacecraft was awarded to the team behind SpaceShipOne.
"Much of the technology they developed was subsequently utilised by Virgin Galactic...
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