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Sewing needle

Kirk with a sewing needle

A needle was a sharp, thin tool that was used to weave fabric together to create garments. Different types of needles could also be used for various medical purposes, such as injecting drugs (before hyposprays) and drawing blood, or used with suturing material to bind body tissue together after an operation or injury.

The idiom "needle in a haystack" referred to something being difficult to find or do. Miles O'Brien occasionally used the term, as did Jadzia Dax once. (TOS: "The Galileo Seven"; TNG: "The Naked Now"; DS9: "Battle Lines", "Whispers", "Blaze of Glory")

In 2269, James T. Kirk used a sewing needle and thread to rescue a drowning shrunken Christine Chapel from an aquarium. (TAS: "The Terratin Incident")

The pointer on a compass was also called a needle. In 2373, Kathryn Janeway compared B'Elanna Torres' plan of polarizing a subspace instability to make a wormhole reappear to making a compass needle move with a magnet. (VOY: "False Profits")

In 2374, Ensign Harry Kim likened the effect of proton beams fired by Ramuran vessels to being struck by thousands of needles. (VOY: "Unforgettable")

Medical use[]

Needle

A needle

While in the year 1930, the delusional Doctor McCoy rambled on about the inadequacies of 20th century medicine, stating, "they used to hand-cut and sew people like garments. Needles and sutures, all the terrible pain!" (TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever")

In 1947, Nurse Garland used needles to inject Sodium Pentathol into Quark's body. (DS9: "Little Green Men")

In 2154, Jonathan Archer injected forty units of trinephedrine through a needle into Hoshi Sato's heart under the guidance of Phlox. (ENT: "Observer Effect")

In 2267, Chekov complained to Sulu about all the medical tests he was enduring due to his unusual immunity to the effects of an unknown element causing rapid aging on the planet Gamma Hydra IV. These included a prcedure involving a needle, which he was assured wouldn't hurt. (TOS: "The Deadly Years")

In 2268, Doctor Leonard McCoy expressed the helplessness he felt while trying to figure out how to reattach Spock's nervous system to his brain, saying he was "threading a needle with a sledgehammer". (TOS: "Spock's Brain")

In 2369, Jadzia Dax briefly investigated the theory that Rao Vantika had used a needle to transfer his consciousness, although he had actually used a microscopic generator. (DS9: "The Passenger")

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