Star Trek like Replicator manufacturing tech unveiled for first time
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The way we manufacture products today is wasteful and unsustainable, so we’re developing new ways to make the things we love. Recently I wrote an article about a new form of 3D Printing, called 3D Holographic Printing, printing with light not conventional materials, that...
Future EV’s with 16,000km range and space elevators made possible with new Chinese Nano-Cable
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are multiple uses for incredibly strong cables and materials, from defence to space elevators, and even helping electric cars travel 16,000km on one charge. Recently I’ve discussed advances across a wide variety of materials, including the development of a wonder material that lasts...
Futuristic transparent electronics get closer thanks to a Swiss supercomputer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Transparent electronics will help revolutionise a variety of industries and products, and make computing even more ubiquitous than it is today. If you search the internet for images of the future of smartphones, as well as other gadgets, then it’s highly likely that included...
Genetic engineering breakthrough turns chickens into egg laying medicine factories
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to produce drugs and medicines cheaply is important, and this breakthrough breaks grounds on all kinds of fronts. Ordinarily, when scientists want to produce proteins to use in medicine they have to use techniques that are costly and complex. Recently, however, in...
US researchers have found a safe way to 3D print explosives
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The ability to 3D print explosives is a turning point for the military and other industries that rely on explosives, but it also opens up a debate on the potential dangers of the uses of the technology. According to new research out of the...
Scientists have created the blackest material ever, and it’s great for gaming
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are certain situations, such as calibrating satellite systems, or in cinemas where nearly dark doesn’t cut it, Vantablack is the darkest material ever produced. Have you ever gotten up to use the restroom during a movie screening, then struggled to find your seat...
Researchers 3D printed a working spinal chord implant in 1.6 seconds
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today if you break your spine, you’re paralysed, but paralysis is increasingly no longer for life. 3D Bio-Printing, an offshoot of its better known cousin 3D Printing, lets scientists manufacture everything from real bones, cartilage, corneas and kidneys, to hearts, ovaries, skin, and teeth, by laying...
Aleph Farms serves up the world’s first lab grown steak
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF By 2050 there will be an estimated 10 billion people on the planet, producing our food in new ways will let us alleviate hunger and feed them all. Over the past couple of years I’ve been watching the rise of vertical farms, that produce...
Here’s how NASA plans to build on Mars and the Moon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the cost of launching equipment and people into space plummets the reality of colonising other planets is getting closer. It’s one thing to send an astronaut to Mars to be an extraterrestrial tourist for a few hours. But if humanity wants to actually...
Breakthrough carbon fiber battery could usher in batteryless electric vehicles
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our understanding of how to turn mundane objects and materials into batteries increases in the future anything and everything could be a battery. As I discussed a little while ago Carbon Fiber is going through its own little revolution, firstly it can now...
3D printed fashion takes over New York Fashion Week
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D printed clothes can be customised and printed on demand using sustainable new materials, giving fashion designers new options and reducing the industry’s environmental impact. Downloadable 3D printed personalised sustainable fashion. I think you’ll agree it’s quite a catchy phrase – or at least...
US Navy puts AI brains into its 3D printers to make them “creative and intelligent”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF By combining the power of AI with 3D printing the US military hopes to revolutionise how products are designed and made everywhere. One thing about aircraft, especially ones that fly from aircraft carriers, that are increasingly being turned into floating factories and flying fortresses,...
Synthetic biology just got its own special programming language
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to create and control discrete chemical and biological processes and reactions is extremely difficult, this new language aims to simplify it, alot. Synthetic biology is an exciting new field of research that applies engineering principles to biology, and so far it’s being used...
Drexel’s new spray on antennas can connect everything to the internet
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tomorrow’s world will be increasingly connected, and connecting old legacy devices and things has been difficult, but it’s about to get much easier. Engineers are good at making minuscule antennas. Nowadays, we can cram antennas into our smartphones or smartwatches without much trouble. But...
Researchers 3D print human corneas in world first
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tens of millions of people a year go blind because of a lack of donor corneas, this work will, literally, give them a new outlook on life. There are so many parts of the human body now that can be 3D printed that it’s...
Breakthrough increases solid state storage capacity by a thousand fold
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The world is storing more data than ever before and that’s a trend that will only increase, so we need revolutions in storage not evolutions. Recently we’ve seen breakthroughs in storage technology that allow us to pack more than 215 Petabytes of information into...
World’s first space elevator hitches a ride to the ISS to begin first trials
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The cost of getting astronauts and cargo into space is still astronomical, a space elevator could eliminate the need for costly rocket launches and democratise access to space. Let’s be honest, launching things into space with rockets is a pretty inefficient way to do...
Scientists use electro-charged nanoparticles to create liquid mirrors
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to apply new properties to glass, such as liquid mirrors, could help companies reduce their air conditioning bill and help homeowners improve their privacy. Researchers from Imperial College London in the UK have developed a new material that can turn a transparent surface into a...
Solar panels made from cyborg bacteria promise even cheaper energy
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Cyborg bacteria could be used to replace today’s silicon solar panels with higher efficiency, lower cost panels that help accelerate the renewable energy revolution. Although most life on Earth relies upon photosynthesis as its sole source of energy, the process has a weak link...
Scientists have 3D printed the world’s first physical neural network
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...
