Trends Identified
The Human Cell Atlas
An international collaboration aimed at deciphering the human body, called the Human Cell Atlas, was launched in October 2016. The project, backed by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative aims to identify every cell type in every tissue; learn exactly which genes, proteins and other molecules are active in each type and the processes which control that activity; determine where the cells are located exactly; how the cells normally interact with one another, and what happens to the body’s functioning when genetic or other aspects of a cell undergo change, among other things. The end product will be an invaluable tool for improving and personalizing health care.
2017
These are the top 10 emerging technologies of 2017
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Precision farming
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is providing farmers with a new set of tools to boost crop yield and quality while reducing water and chemical use. Sensors, robots, GPS, mapping tools and data-analytics software are all being used to customize the care that plants need. While the prospect of using drones to capture plant health in real time may be some way off for most of the world’s farmers, low-tech techniques are coming online too. Salah Sukkarieh, of the University of Sydney, for instance, has demonstrated a streamlined, low-cost monitoring system in Indonesia that relies on solar power and cell phones.
2017
These are the top 10 emerging technologies of 2017
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Affordable catalysts for green vehicles
Progress is being made on a promising zero-emission technology, the hydrogen-fed fuel cell. Progress to date has been stymied by the high price of catalysts which contain platinum. However, much progress has been made reducing reliance on this rare and expensive metal, and the latest developments involve catalysts that include no platinum, or in some cases no metal at all.
2017
These are the top 10 emerging technologies of 2017
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Genomic vaccines
Vaccines based on genes are superior to more conventional ones in a number of ways. They are faster to manufacture for one thing, which is crucial at times of a violent outbreak. Compared to manufacturing proteins in cell cultures or eggs, producing genetic material should also be simpler and less expensive. A genomics-based approach to vaccines also enables more rapid adaptation in the event of a pathogen mutating, and finally allows scientists to identify people who are resistant to a pathogen, isolate the antibodies that provide that protection, and design a gene sequence that will induce a person’s cells to produce those antibodies.
2017
These are the top 10 emerging technologies of 2017
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Sustainable design of communities
Applying green construction to multiple buildings at once has the potential to revolutionize the amount of energy and water we consume. Sending locally-generated solar power to a smart microgrid could reduce electricity consumption by half and reduce carbon emissions to zero if a project currently under development at the University of California at Berkeley Goes to plan. Meanwhile, the same project’s plan to re-design water systems so that waste water from toilets and drains is treated and re-used on site, with rainwater diverted to toilets and washers, could cut demand for potable water by 70%.
2017
These are the top 10 emerging technologies of 2017
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Quantum computing
Quantum computers’ almost limitless potential has only ever been matched by the difficulty and cost of their construction. Which explains why today the small ones that have been built have not yet managed to exceed the power of supercomputers. But progress is being made and in 2016 the technology firm IBM provided the public access to the first quantum computer in the cloud. This has already led to more than 20 academic papers being published using the tool and today more than 50 start-ups and large corporations worldwide are focused on making quantum computing a reality. With such progress behind us, the word on people’s lips now is “Quantum Ready.”
2017
These are the top 10 emerging technologies of 2017
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Space exploration will open up in 2018 - Eye-catching space missions could boost dreams of setting up bases on celestial bodies
If all goes well, on November 26th 2018 NASA’s InSight unmanned spacecraft will slice into Mars’s thin atmosphere at a blistering 3.2km (2 miles) a second, open a parachute, fire retrorockets, jettison its heat shield and softly land. It will be the culmination of an exciting year of space travel.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
Crash course - Scientists will learn whether an asteroid is likely to collide with earth
The asteroid Bennu first made headlines back in 1999. That was when scientists discovered this halfkilometre- wide ball of ice and rock and realised that its changing orbit, which brings it close to Earth every six years, could send it crashing into our planet in a century or so. The impact would be catastrophic, releasing 10,000 times more energy than from the asteroid which exploded so spectacularly over Chelyabinsk, in Russia, in 2013. Scientists made ambitious plans to learn more.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
Entangled web - A big year for quantum technology
Particles that can be in two places at once, or seemingly connected across vast distances: some of the predictions of quantum mechanics are downright weird. But after nearly a century of those effects being mere laboratory curiosities, engineers are finding that they have wide-ranging practical applications. In 2018 the world will hear a lot more about them.
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist
Putting Einstein to the test - The nearest supermassive black hole will give astronomers a great laboratory
In 2015, almost exactly a century after he concocted it, Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity got a spectacular confirmation when scientists detected gravitational waves. These undulations, launched by the dances of distant, massive objects, minutely stretch the weft and warp of space time itself (and thereby of experiments designed to intercept them).
2018
The world in 2018
The Economist