Future Trek?

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Science: Star Trek
Shields Now a Possibility?
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday April
18, @04:11PMfrom the red-alert dept.

An anonymous reader writes
"British scientists have announced their intent to build a Star Trek-style magnetic shielding system to help protect astronauts from radiation. 'There are a variety of risks facing future space explorers, not least of which is the cancer-causing radiation encountered when missions venture beyond the protective magnetic envelope, or magnetosphere, which shields the Earth against these energetic particles. The Earth's magnetosphere deflects many of these particles; others are largely absorbed by the atmosphere.'"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6567709.stm