Just as 5G starts rolling out 6G is in the already in the works
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...
Scientists have created a decoder to turn brain activity into speech
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...
Amazon’s AI reportedly tracks, monitors and automatically fires hundreds of employees
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,...
China announces plans to build a Moonbase in the next decade
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...
Scientists are teaching robots to share code and evolve just like animals
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...
AI and automation: The benefits for business and industry
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...
China’s AI anti-corruption program is getting shut down for being too good
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,...
First of a kind material lets solar panels generate electricity from snow
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...
Perfect fit one size fits all clothing is here, thanks to robots and smart materials
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,...
Codex of the Future 2020 to 2070
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 ONLINE or DOWNLOAD it THIS...
This is the first ever photo of a black hole
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...
Electrical brain stimulation rejuvenates memory by 50 years
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,...
Amazing ray tracing mod pack makes Minecraft look stunning
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...
Google’s AI enlisted to help crack the secret of nuclear fusion
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...
Doctor Dolittle researchers use AI to decode mice chatter
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...
Scientists bring 28,000 year old woolly mammoth cells back to life
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,...
Nvidia’s GauGAN turns your crappy sketches into masterpieces
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...
Scientists gene hacked lizards to make them albino
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...
Major 3D printing advance boosts LiON battery capacities by over 400 percent
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...
Self-driving hotel room scoops major design award
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...
