WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A rocket that consumes itself for fuel could dramatically reduce the cost of future satellite launches.   A team of engineers from Scotland and Ukraine have developed what they call an “Autophage” rocket that would consume its own structure as it hurtles into space, and...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Satellites are ubiquitous and a newly discovered exploit could let hackers turn them into high frequency weapons that fry electronics on the ground.   As I discussed in a recent keynote on the future of cybersecurity, even air gaps, thought to be the ultimate in...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to print advanced and complex AI’s mean we can produce them cheaply and position them at the edge of networks where computer power might be limited.   Recently a team of researchers in the US revolutionised artificial intelligence when they made the world’s first...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If we are ever going to unravel the mysteries of the mind, and help find new treatments for cognitive diseases, we first have to understand how the brain works.   A study using epilepsy patients undergoing surgery has given neuroscientists an opportunity to track in...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The ability to harness quantum entanglement at scale will help revolutionise communications systems, computing, healthcare, and warfare, to name but a few.   From tunnelling through impenetrable barriers to being in two places at the same time, the quantum world of atoms and particles is famously...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Governments fear the fall out from the mass automation of jobs by AI will be extreme so they’re investigating new welfare systems to limit the damage, but solutions are illusive.   4,000 people in Ontario, Canada just lost their Universal Basic Income (UBI) cash and...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Ultra thin and ultra flexible batteries made from Graphene could make new types of wearable computing platforms a reality.   Researchers in the UK who were motivated by the problem of how to power the growing number of wearables that are now hitting the market...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As technology and robotics get better it won’t be long before all warehouses are completely automated.   They call it “The Hive,” or “The Grid.” Or sometimes just: “The machine.” It’s a huge structure that fills a warehouse on the outskirts of Andover, a small...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Robots struggle with tasks that involve dexterity, but that problem could soon be solved.   Artificial Intelligence (AI) advances are increasingly making headlines as we witness breakthrough after breakthrough, whether it’s in the creation of self-driving cars, or in the creation of the world’s first...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI neural networks made out of DNA will let us create “AI’s in a test tube” that will usher in the next AI revolution and exponentially increase the number of AI use cases.   Recently we’ve seen significant advances in the development of living biological...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s hyperscale datacenters are huge and power hungry, tomorrow’s could be the size of a table and be powered by a single AA battery.   DNA already carries the genetic instructions that help every living organism grow and thrive, but it could do so much...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As computing and AI processing gets moved to the edge of the network and into billions of IOT devices computers will have to get ever smaller.   Researchers at the University of Michigan have created the world’s smallest computer, again, after their previous micro-computers, called...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A three fold increase in the energy efficiency of solar panels could revolutionise almost every industry on Earth.   In our efforts to make solar panels even more efficient a team of scientists in the UK have found a way of funnelling the Sun’s power...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to create materials that can transition between hard and soft states could open the door to a whole host of new applications.   I think you’ll agree with me that rubber and steel are at different ends of the spectrum when it comes...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the technology to build flying cars improves, and as companies start to look rolling out the first services, the competition is heating up.   Lamborghini recently unveiled their first electric hyper car concept where the car is the battery, but now Aston Martin, the iconic...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future we’ll see more maintenance jobs performed by robots of all sizes.   Typically engineers want to get bugs out of their creations but that’s not the case for Rolls Royce, the engineering company who are building everything from autonomous cargo ships and...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As advanced as today’s AI’s are they still can’t reason, and that’s what’s going to hold them, and us, back from realising the milestone that is Artificial General Intelligence.   Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become pretty good at completing specific tasks over the past couple...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to create increasingly small nanoscale structures will help us create more advanced nanobots and nanomachines in the future.   Recently we’ve seen a spate of new ways to build houses, whether they’re 3D printed, or built using autonomous drones, robots and vehicles, but...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to gauge a smart a person is just from a brain scan could provide scientists with new insights into the brain.   Scientists in the US have announced they’ve developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system that can tell how smart a person is...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Education and the future are kindred spirits, both are adventures, filled with wonders and awe, but in order to prepare ourselves and our workforce for tomorrow education needs to evolve. Read the report online or download it here.     It might sound controversial, but...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A system that can tell a persons personality from a photo can be used to help approve loans, provide better healthcare, and create smarter surveillance solutions.   In the past I’ve heard of Artificial Intelligent (AI) platforms that can, controversially, judge a persons character from...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more companies pile into the flying taxi market it’s increasingly likely that you’ll start seeing them appear in cities near you, kickstarting the next transportation revolution.   British engine maker Rolls Royce revealed its plans this week to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, dubbed...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The cost of space travel is collapsing thanks to new technology and new blood in the industry, and soon you too could explore the vastness of our universe.   If Jeff Bezos has his way, and he probably will, then soon it’s likely you’ll be...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tomorrow’s aircraft will be battery powered, but future generations of aircraft could do away with the batteries entirely.   While Elon Musk is invested in getting humans to different places, whether it’s from one side of the planet to the other in rocketships, or to...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Every market has its successes and failures and just like any investment ICO’s can gain and loose value too, making due diligence as important as ever.   Anyone who reads any sort of business newspaper will know that cryptocurrency projects have been popping up left,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF At some point in the future humanity will become an interplanetary species, and several billionaires want it to be sooner rather than later.   Blue Origin, the space company run by Jeff Bezos, who wants to one day use the service to deliver goods to...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today plastics are the scourge of the environment so now companies around the world are racing to create environmentally friendly alternatives, and plastics made from true glue could be near the top of the list.   Plastic’s fall from grace in the past couple of...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are times when seeing through walls is useful, for example in hostage negotiations, search and rescue, and to see when mum and dad are about to bust in on your gameplay.   Recently we’ve seen camera developments from both China and MIT that help...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are an increasing number of billionaires who believe heavy industry should be moved off of Earth and onto the Moon, and Bezos might be one to help make it a reality.   Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is convinced that one day “we are going...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The faster autonomous vehicles hit the roads the faster the transportation industry’s going to flip, and it’s clear that there are companies that want it to happen sooner rather than later.   Chinese tech and internet giant Baidu has begun volume production of China’s first...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Any technology like Quantum Radar that renders all traditional stealth obsolete is a game changer.   Hot on the heels of China’s announcement last year that they’d managed to create the world’s first working Quantum Radar, a technology that would render military stealth technologies nothing...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more companies become interested, and invest, in flying taxi’s, companies like Airbus and Uber are keen to be at the forefront of the revolution.   Stout cylindrical towers that cars can fly inside and stacked landing pods are among the proposals that architects and...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The convergence of biological intelligence with robotics will be an area of increasing interest in the future.   It’s not something you do every day, put a worms brain into a Lego robot… but then again you’re probably not a scientist. This is the promise...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to monitor the health of soliders in battle will help keep them at peak efficiency, and military robot surgeons will help save lives on the battlefield.   Keeping soldiers healthy has always been a struggle but there may soon be a high tech solution after US...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The most powerful quantum computers in the future will be the ones not necessarily with the most Qubits, but be the ones that are the most accurate, and that’s what Microsoft is focusing on.   At Microsoft’s Dutch research facility at the Delft University of Technology,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Over time we will all be interacting more and more with AI, as a result companies are trying to “humanise” it.   BabyX, the virtual, artificially intelligent creation of Mark Sagar and his company, Soul Machines, who also bought us Ava, a life-like digital avatar that’s...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future our sports events could be dominated by robot and drone warriors battling it out for supremacy, and at some point this could present companies with a new market opportunity.   Later this week, the world’s first autonomous race car company Roborace will make history...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The best technology is invisible and frictionless to use, and virtual reality still has a way to go before the experience is simple and seamless, but these gloves could help bring more users into the sector.   Bringing a user’s hands into a Virtual Reality...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Retail will soon be going through another disruption, one where personalised products are made on demand in the back of stores, and the sportswear industry are leading the charge.   We’re facing a retail revolution, another one, and this time it’s not e-commerce, one where...

WHY THIS MATTERS As the cost of powerful DIY gene editing kits continue to fall bioterrorism is going to be on the rise, so we need a way to defend against it.   Recently I gave a talk on the “Future of Cybersecurity” in the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) sector...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to turn human cells into powerful, living computing systems will revolutionise computing, energy, and healthcare, along with a myriad of other industries.   Today’s computer hardware is about to get softer, a lot softer, after a research team in the US announced they’ve...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As lasers become more efficient, and as the battery packs needed to power them become more dense and powerful, we’ll continue to see the miniaturisation and deployment of increasingly powerful laser weaponry.   Artificially intelligent “fire and forget” cruise missiles, quantum internet and  quantum radar,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The world is changing faster than many organisations anticipated and the pace of technological change is now many CEO’s primary concern, the result of which is that innovation labs are now a business necessity, not a luxury.   The global pace of disruption and transformation...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Industrial Control Systems (ICS) that enable the safe and efficient operation of our CNI assets are becoming increasingly smart and connected, making them more vulnerable to attack, and new technologies bring  new challenges.   Firstly, thanks to James for inviting me to be the keynote...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF People with paralysis or nervous disorders could soon be regaining their movement thanks to a revolutionary new form of wireless brain machine interface.   Imagine if a tiny matchstick sized brain implant could circumvent damaged spinal cords and help paralysed people, and anyone for that...