WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Blockchain will let us build new types of companies in new ways, including ownerless companies where funds and profits are divided automatically between individuals.   Slowly, very slowly, we’re seeing the emergence of the world’s first fully autonomous companies, from small hedge funds in Hong...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the world gets more crowded billionaires are lining up to make humans an inter-stellar species, with interesting results.   The plan of Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, to transport humans from Earth to the Moon and house millions of us in space colonies...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As individuals and organisations start becoming more powerful than many governments, people are wondering if private companies can solve humanity’s problems faster.   As I travel around the world, from America to Africa, Europe to the Middle East, and Japan to Singapore, talking to people...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to see in colour, even during the darkest nights, is a game changer that will have ramifications for multiple industries.   When we think of night vision our minds automatically turn to grainy black and green images. But today things have begun to...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the pace of terrorism accelerates agencies around the world are trying to find the needles in the data haystack that can help them predict attacks before they happen.   In the movie Fast and the Furious 7 movie a secretive US government agency created...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In a couple of years time you won’t be able to tell what’s fake from what’s real.   We all love DeepFakes – unless that is you’re a celebrity, a news corporation, or a fan of democracy. But all that asides if you look past...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the Earth’s population and its appetite for protein grows this latest breakthrough will help alleviate famine and hunger.   We are on the cusp of a food production revolution, one that could eradicate global famine and let us make food, of all types, from...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to create an unhackable computer sounds like science fiction, but that doesn’t stop researchers from giving it a go.   “Unhackable” is a strong word. And so far many of the technologies that people have described as being unhackable, even awesome science fiction...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The march of technology never stops, and as users celebrate Gigabit mobile speeds Terabit mobile speeds are already on the drawing board.   While countries around the world are just beginning to roll out their first 5G networks that operate at Gigabbit speeds, technologists at...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF For a wide range of reasons many people have speaking disabilities, but now a Brain to Speech breakthrough gives them their voices back.   Scientists have announced a breakthrough in Brain Machine Interface (BMI) technology that has, for the first time, let them translate electrical...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we entrust machines with more decision making powers it brings both pros and cons, and being fired by an AI is definitely a con.   There’s been a lot of news coverage about how Artificial Intelligence (AI), robots and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), will,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Space exploration and building colonies on Mars and the Moon are in vogue as countries and billionaires vie to out do one another.   Just like the European Space Agency, Jeff Bezos, who wants to also move heavy industry off Earth, and NASA, China has...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We all too often think of machines, and robots, as static things, but new breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, manufacturing, and materials are giving them the power to evolve.   Bacteria do it, viruses do it. Worms, mammals, even bees do it. So our parents tell...

On 4 August 1997, Skynet, a US military developed program, became self-aware and began to think for itself. Operators tried to deactivate the computer system but the now ‘intelligent’ system perceived this as a threat and in order to protect its mandate of ‘safeguarding the world’ Skynet launched a nuclear...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Corruption is endemic, and now China’s AI powered anti-corruption program is getting shut down in a record number of provinces because it’s allegedly too efficient.   What would you do if you had a machine that could catch a thief, or a corrupt politician? Well,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our knowledge of materials and how they behave improves we can generate electricity from almost anything.   Scientists have announced that they’ve developed a first of its kind material that generates electricity from nothing other than, wait for it… snow. Based upon the principles...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Inventory is one of retailers biggest cash sinks, but now a new technology combo means retailers can buy one size from the manufacturer and custom fit it to every body shape in house.   You’re shopping for a sweater, and you spot one you love,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The emergence of hundreds of powerful exponential technologies is accelerating the rate of global cultural, industrial, and societal change, this first of a kind Codex is your guide to understanding, simplifying, and navigating it all.   eXplore the Codex   THIS CODEX is your front...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Up until now it’s been thought it’d be impossible to take a photo of a black hole, but where there’s a will there’s a way.   Recently scientists managed to find a way to read information from the very heart of a black hole, but...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we age our memory capacity degrades, but his latest breakthrough turns the clock back over 50 years.   Over the past couple of years I’ve been closely watching the field of Neuro-Training – an emerging technique that helps people with brain training, memory retention,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As AI tools become better it’s getting easier for us to turn even the simplest graphical designs into stunning hi def visions.   If you were to make a list of all the graphically intense, amazing looking games in the world, Minecraft wouldn’t be on...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Trying to create an artificial Sun on Earth is no mean feat, and scientists have turned to Artificial Intelligence to help them.   With the click of a mouse and a loud bang researchers blast jets of super hot, ionized gas called plasma into one...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Using AI to translate human languages is nothing new, but now we’re using the technology to help us decipher animal languages.   Dolphins are getting in on the act, and now so are mice – having their language translated into something humans can understand using...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many scientists see de-extinction, as well as immortality and re-incarnation, as a mystery we simply haven’t solved yet.   In a world rife with movie plotlines about bringing extinct animals back from the dead, and actual scientists thinking about actually doing it, scientists in Osaka,...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Increasingly AI is being used as a tool to help democratise creativity and unlock people’s creative potential.   It’s long been known that I’m a crappy artist – despite my best efforts at school it was evident early on that I was just never cut...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As gene editing tools become more powerful scientists are starting to push the boundaries by modifying the genes of more complex animals.   For the first time reptiles, which are comparatively complex organisms, have been gene-edited with CRISPR technology after scientists at University of Georgia...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our ability to 3D print objects at the nano scale improves it gives us the ability to create dramatically better batteries with huge surface areas.   Scientists from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Missouri University of Science and Technology have used 3D Printing to produce high capacity Lithium...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The rise of fully autonomous vehicles are allowing innovators to come up with new concepts and travel ideas.   Question: What do you get if you cross a hotel room with a self-driving vehicle? Answer: The Autonomous Travel Suite (ATS). A hotel room on wheels, the ATS...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As mobile communications become more important to businesses and governments the US wants to encourage innovation.   Commercial 5G networks are barely operational in the US right now, but that hasn’t stopped engineers from thinking ahead to 6G, which is already on the drawing board...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF People often think of robots as static things, with fixed forms that don’t evolve, but scientists are creating robots that can evolve to suit different situations.   Evolution is a trip. On the one hand, it’s a seemingly simple mechanism -those best fitted to their environment have...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Climate change is getting harder to solve, and the effects are getting more severe so we need new ways to tackle it.   Scientists from the Melbourne based RMIT University have announced they’ve developed a new technique using “a liquid metal electrolysis method to convert...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we find new ways to produce food coffee isn’t immune, and now a company has found a way to make great tasting coffee but without using beans.   Food production is going through a revolution. Take the animal out of meat, and you’ve got...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the number of solar energy installations increase storing the energy they produce, so it can be released to the grid when the Sun goes in, is still holding the industry back from world domination.   Recently renewable energy became the cheapest form of energy...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our data volumes explode we need new ways to store it all, and DNA is a perfect solution – if we can get it to work.   By all reports the modern world is facing a tsunami of data as we produce exabtyes of the...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Wireless charging is becoming more popular, which is why we’re seeing breakthrough after breakthrough in the space, and new innovations.   Noone likes having to shove a battery into things or plug everything they own into an electrical plug socket, whether it’s your phone, your...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As countries try to hit their emissions targets fossil fuels are under fire, now the UK government is calling time on domestic gas supplies.   Connecting new homes to the UK’s gas grid could be banned after 2025 as the UK government, just like many...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of computing isn’t silicon, it isn’t even quantum, it’s biological, and it’s coming.   We’ve already turned bacteria into computing and storage devices that we’ve used to re-play videos from, and perform basic calculations, but just like tomorrow’s Biological computers DNA too, it’s...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to bend nature to our will has its advantages, but it could also help us create plants that grow naturally on alien planets.   Plants are naturally amazing little machines so, naturally, scientists think that giving them a bionic leg up could unlock...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI’s that can predict outcomes from users behaviours are becoming increasingly common, and one of the biggest beneficiaries of that is the area of pre-crime detection.   It’s watching, and knows a crime is about to take place before it happens – this is the...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New 5G mobile networks will unleash a torrent of new innovation, and the US DOD fears that the country will be left behind if it doesn’t release new spectrum.   The US led the charge on 4G LTE, which gave US companies significant power in...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Aircraft wings are subject to different conditions during flight, but until now rigid wings weren’t optimal for any of them.   A team of researchers led by NASA and MIT in the US have come up with a radical new aeroplane wing design that is...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Our ability to create robots that can shape shift and change their shape is a matter of when, not if, and we’re getting closer.   Between the US Pentagon’s use of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) to defend its critical systems from attack, DARPA’s proposal to...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s VR headsets are still low resolution and big, this technology would reduce them to just millimeters thick and make UHD resolution the norm.   If wearing a Augmented Reality (AR) glasses or Virtual Reality (VR) headsets is ever to become commonplace then hardware manufacturers...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Humans genetic ability to regenerate body parts naturally was “turned off” millions of years ago, but now scientists have found a switch that turns it on – in worms.   When it comes to regeneration some animals are capable of amazing feats. For example, if...

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Once satellites are in orbit they stay there, in the same position until they run out of fuel, then they fall back to Earth, but as the militarisation of space hots up satellites need to be able to move.   In the event of a...