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available within the years ahead and is usually reserved for technologies that are creating or are expected to create significant social or economic effects. Since technology today is evolving at a rapid pace enabling faster change in progress causing an acceleration of the rate of change it’s a good thing we stay on top of it so here are some doozies.
15 emerging technologies that will change our world.
1. deep fakes
deep fake technology ever heard of it you most certainly have seen it either on social media apps or in special effects and movies how it works is such that anyone can seamlessly stitch anyone in the world into a video or photo they never actually participated in in movie making such capabilities have existed for decades that’s how the late actor paul walker was resurrected for his part in fast and the furious seven a franchise he made famous while he was alive now deep fake technologies can synthesize images and videos much more quickly we literally have apps that do it instantaneously and that’s why a growing unease has settled around deep fake technologies that make it possible to create evidence of scenes that never happened celebrities have found themselves the stars of adult content and politicians have turned up in videos speaking words they never really said like all fake and corporations don’t like it either social media platforms have banned it from their networks that’s how strongly deep fakes divide people no matter how much fun it is to see is it just about videos absolutely not audio can be deep fake too to create voice skins or voice clones of anybody
fasten your seatbelts because it’s time for today’s sweet topic did you know?
That in the south Korean city of Busan engineers have designed a historic agreement to build the world’s first sustainable floating city prototype the project is to be realized off the coast of Busan a city with 3.4 million residents and the floating cities of the future could look a lot like the one in this image where part of the design stays submerged while the rest of it floats above the surface looks cool right sustainable floating cities are a part of the arsenal of climate adaptation strategies available to us instead of fighting with water maybe we should learn to live in harmony with it this might be the perfect solution around forty percent of the world’s population lives within a hundred miles off the coast as sea levels continue to rise coastal cities are facing unique demographic environmental economic social and spatial challenges are we looking at a future of floating cities tell the world your thoughts in the comments section with the hashtag sweet topic.
2. Sonic fire Extinguisher
fighting forest fires can be a huge challenge and they’re often in remote areas hard to reach or there’s little to no access to water so what do you do recently two undergraduate engineering students created an acoustic fire extinguisher for their senior design project using sound waves to quell the flames genius right fighting flames with bass the acoustic extinguisher works by using sound waves to push oxygen away from the source of a flame and spread it over a large surface area these actions break the fire combustion triangle made up of heat fuel and oxygen the three elements required for a fire to burn the acoustic fire extinguisher puts out flames using low frequency base without relying on water or chemicals having acquired a preliminary patent application for the design the researchers are now hoping to move on to further testing and refinements of their extinguisher taking steps towards a potential commercial application around 90 percent of wildfires in the us are started by humans some as deliberate acts of arson but most unintentionally perhaps people could put out their campfires with a little blast of base this would be a useful way to deal with the fire quickly.
The Metaverse
The Metaverse you’ve heard this word a lot lately so in a nutshell it means this if the contemporary internet experience is two-dimensional meaning you browse and scroll through it on the screen the metaverse is 3d you’ll be walking through it via connected headsets or glasses and understanding the metaverse is complicated especially because it doesn’t entirely exist yet it’s unclear whether there will be one metaverse or many but it will be an immersive next generation version of the internet likely rendered by virtual or augmented reality technology the venture capitalist matthew ball describes the metaverse as a successor state to the mobile internet and a platform for human leisure labor and existence at large sounds interesting right for now a virtual world mimics the space constraints and land scarcity of the real world in other cases it just means users sharing specially created spaces for a particular game or a special time sensitive event but the metaverse is intended to be so much more if the experts have their way but questions of control are an issue here especially if your metaverse is controlled by a corporation that wants to draw value from all that user-generated work is meta better we’ll find out soon enough
Quantum Computers
Quantum computers in 2019 google made a big announcement it announced its quantum computer named sycamore had achieved quantum supremacy that’s when quantum computers can complete tasks exponentially more quickly than their classical counterparts apparently it solved the problem in three minutes that would take an average computer 10 000 years computer scientists have for decades sought to harness the behavior of subatomic particles that can simultaneously exist in different states in contrast to the real world that people perceive around them in fact these particles can exist in more than one state at a time it’s this ability that quantum computers take advantage of instead of bits which conventional computers use a quantum computer uses quantum bits known as qubits so this means that a computer using qubits can store huge amounts of information and uses less energy doing so than a classical computer traditional laws of physics no longer apply here we’ll be able to create processors that are a million or more times faster than the ones we use today so it’s no coincidence that some of the world’s most influential companies are investing in quantum computing technology
living robots
living robots a team of biologists and computer scientists created these novel tiny self-healing biological machines from frog sales named xenobiotics after the African clawed frog the machines are less than .04 inches wide small enough to travel inside human bodies they can walk and swim survive for weeks without food and worked together in groups the researchers scraped living stem cells from frog embryos and left them to incubate then the cells were cut and reshaped into specific body forms designed by a supercomputer forms never seen in nature some of the cells after a few days differentiated to produce cilia tiny hair-like projections that move back and forth or rotate in a specific way instead of using manually sculpted cardiac cells whose natural rhythmic contractions allowed the original xenobiotics to scuttle around cilia gives the nuts legs to move them rapidly across a surface in a frog or human for that matter cilia would normally be found on surfaces like in the lungs to help push out pathogens and other foreign material on the xenobiotics they’re repurposed to provide rapid locomotion programmable life forms we’re looking at the world’s first living robot.
Self-Healing
concrete this material that builds our buildings paves our roads and spans our bridges is the most widely produced and consumed material on earth apart from water and of all the carbon emitters that surround us every day it’s easy to overlook it good old-fashioned concrete although its environmental impact is far from low concrete defined as the mixture of aggregates water and the hydraulic powder material known as cement is incredibly useful and widely applicable and with this new self-healing concrete water is the catalyst that activates the solution it’s only with the arrival of concrete’s nemesis itself rain water or atmospheric moisture seeping into cracks that the bacteria starts to produce the limestone that eventually repairs the cracks it’s a similar process to that carried out by cells in our body that make bones bacteria are mixed and distributed evenly through the concrete but can lie dormant for up to 200 years as long as there’s food in the form of particles healing these cracks the old-fashioned way is no small expense according to the project working on the self-healing concrete annual maintenance costs for bridges tunnels and other essential infrastructure is in the billions of dollars per year this could be the answer to all our concrete conundrums
Hyper Trains
you better get used to the idea of rolling to work or on your vacation via hyper trains because passengers are already experiencing this state-of-the-art travel experience in test runs supporters argue that hyperloop could be cheaper and faster than train or car travel and cheaper and less polluting than air travel they claim it’s also quicker and cheaper to build than traditional high speed rail hyperloop could therefore be used to take the pressure off gridlocked roads making travel between cities easier and potentially unlocking major economic benefits as a result the hyperloop is the futuristic idea of passenger and freight transportation in a sealed tube or system of tubes unlike a regular subway train or railroad hyperloop’s low air pressure allows a passenger pod to travel free of excess air resistance or friction at hypersonic speeds the pods travel through tubes or tunnels but most of the air has been removed and they move at super speeds using magnetic levitation like an air ski to reduce friction so the pods travel at up to 750 miles per hour as a result of this clever engineering while being energy efficient
that’s why a number of different companies are working to turn the ideas into a functioning commercial system
Driverless Cars
fans of 1980s horror phenomenon that spawned a book in a movie might recall one of the earliest driverless cars was stephen king’s christine remember the car that came to life but these days driverless vehicles have come a long way your own car may not be driving itself just yet but you might already own a kind of driverless car without realizing it something as small as the beeping noise that guides your rear parking could mean your car is somewhat autonomous and if your new car can park itself it’s likely to be more of a driverless vehicle than you think if technology continues on this current course it’s your car that’ll do all the driving for you waymo one the ride-hailing service that uses driverless vehicles in the suburbs of phoenix can now be accessed and booked through google maps the first fully autonomous ride-hailing option available in the app the future is here they have about 600 vehicles in its u.s fleet about 300 to 400 of those are in the phoenix area alone so clearly it’s having some impact the driverless taxi service means that a safety operator is not physically behind the wheel it also means that if it pops up on google maps users can be assured it will indeed be driverless and that’s good to know.
Ebikes
The result of four years of research and development prototyping and testing before arriving at the finished product check out this ultimate in e-bikes it’s called Revo aimed at the urban cyclist this has hubless spokeless wheels a beam style frame and a one-sided fork and can even be locked and unlocked with your fingertip the fingertip technology to lock and unlock the bike paired with the integrated automatic lock housed inside the frame to protect it from bolt cropper attacks should make Revo virtually theft proof take that thieves if they do steal your e-bike take advantage of the bike’s integrated GPS with motion detection allowing you to set a custom geo fencing radius and know where your bike is by checking the app it also has automatic brake lighting integrated into the rims the headlight and rear light also turn on and off automatically with all the lighting kicking out 800 lumens combined these things can only be described as pure engineering excellence all wrapped up in a strong lightweight core with triple seal technology as an added bonus no spokes means that Revo can store your stuff inside the wheels.
Algae Fuel
this kind of biofuel is an alternative to liquid fossil fuels that use algae as its source of energy-rich oils it also has an alternative to commonly known biofuel sources such as corn and sugarcane the technology and infrastructure to create fuel from this sort of biomass have existed for at least 60 years and now several companies and government agencies are funding efforts to reduce capital and operating costs and make algae fuel production commercially viable the energy crisis and the world food crisis have ignited interest in farming algae for making biodiesel and other biofuels using land unsuitable for agriculture algae can be grown with minimal impact on freshwater resources can be produced using saline and wastewater and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled sounds ideal it may cost more per unit mass than other second-generation biofuel crops due to high capital and operating costs but are claimed to yield between 10 and 100 times more fuel per unit area algae can turn simple inorganic compounds such as co2 and water into complex energy-rich hydrocarbons using light as an energy source.
Galactic tourism
a quartet of amateur space travelers recently went on a three-day trip into earth’s orbit aboard a SpaceX capsule thanks Elon musk this is being done by aerospace companies like blue origin and virgin galactic as well these trips are the beginning of what could be a lucrative 21st century industry space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes work also continues towards developing sub-orbital space tourism vehicles there are already several companies planning to build sub-orbital vehicles and orbital cities within the next two decades the essence of galactic tourism these companies have invested millions believing that this industry is on the verge of taking off and the four space tourists on board the SpaceX safely splash down off Florida’s coast completing the first-ever three-day mission in earth’s orbit with no professional astronauts on board so we know it’s possible in 2019 NASA announced its aim to start allowing private astronauts to go on to the international space station which is planned to be priced at 35 000 us dollars per day for one astronaut and an estimated 50 million dollars for the kids right there and back.
Smart mirrors
remember in snow white when the evil queen converses with their magic mirror smart mirrors will make you feel like you’re living in a fairy tale they can answer your questions and provide you with information all while you fix your hair do your makeup or brush your teeth we’re here for it but how does a smart mirror work it has three components a two-way mirror digital display and computer unlike standard mirrors smart mirrors need light to pass through from behind the glass to view the display behind the glass there is a built-in digital display powered by an internal computer the computer connects to your home’s wireless network or your phone via bluetooth allowing it to display real-time information from the internet as you can probably guess smart mirrors are significantly more expensive than traditional mirrors but after all they have a computer inside them smart mirrors often have built-in led lights too allowing you to adjust the color and warmth to provide optimal lighting for your needs some smart mirrors play music via bluetooth and let you make phone calls or access the apps on your phone it can provide personalized information about your skin care and makeup while the fitness device provides workout guidance right on the glass.
lab-grown milk
dairy isn’t for everybody between 1 and 2 and every 10 people have lactose intolerance can you imagine it’s more common in countries and places where milk isn’t a big part of the average adult diet including africa asia and south america that’s why we now have so many kinds of milk to choose from at the supermarket as well as people ditching cow’s milk and going vegan lab milk closely resembles cow’s milk and nutritional composition and taste but it’s made with zero involvement from any animal instead the dairy proteins that are so important to taste and texture are synthetically made in a laboratory thisis down to a combination of science and fermentation to create the taste and creamy texture we rely on animals to eat plants and turn them into proteins this gives dairy products their unique flavor and nutritional characteristics to replicate this process in a laboratory a modified yeast is used to convert plant sugar into whey and casein these are the same proteins that earn cow’s milk this is leading to animal-free dairy products that are a much closer match to those made with cow’s milk the lab-based manufacturing process also offers a number of environmental and ethical benefits compared to animal-derived dairy.
Starlink internet
owned by billionaire entrepreneur elon musk can run through his commercial aerospace company spacex the starlink internet project aims to beam strong broadband connections across the globe using a network of thousands of satellites and back down on earth the starlink broadband router has now been approved for consumer use marking a significant step forward and connecting our homes to the upper atmosphere that’s good news as a result it’s safe to say starlink broadband will be a very real option for us quite soon but how does it work satellite broadband as we know it today uses a lot of the same technology you already benefit from on a day-to-day basis like satellite tv and gps however starlink instead transmits data through lasers which like fiber optic broadband means it travels at light speed the fastest possible pace anything can physically move starlink once said that in perfect conditions it could reach consistent speeds of 150 mbps download and 40 mbps upload a recent test with the u.s air force even saw it hit ultra fast speeds of 600 mbps not bad musk these are game-changing speeds for areas that currently have little to no connection at all.
Exoskeletons
a powered exoskeleton also known as power armor is a wearable mobile machine that’s powered by a system of electric motors pneumatics levers hydraulics or a combination of technologies that allow for limb movement with increased strength and endurance the guardian xo by sarcos is a full-body powered industrial exoskeleton kinda like the one soldiers wore in the film avatar and this battery powered wearable robot system can safely lift up to 200 pounds with minimal effort by the user the sole purpose of these exoskeletons is to boost performance rather than replace people it works in unison with a person’s intelligence instinct and judgment which amps it up with the strength endurance and precision of machines plus it has to provide back support sense the user’s motion and send a signal to the motors that manage the gears the exoskeleton supports the shoulders waist and thighs and assist movement for lifting and holding heavy items while lowering back stress the 150 pound weight of the suit bypasses its user and is transferred directly into the ground so although it looks hard to wear the weight of the system isn’t something that the user experiences directly and not only that it takes seconds to put on and take off.
