Nanorobotic swarms get busy shredding brain tumors from the inside
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Brain tumors are incredibly difficult to kill, but there are more breakthroughs coming to move the dial. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. When it...
Futuristic Spinach can send you emails about climate change, life, and stuff
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Plants are getting more super powers than ever before and it’s all thanks to new tech and weird scientists … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Over the past couple of years...
Re-igniting Moore’s Law, MIT’s radical Carbon Nanotube computer leaps from lab to factory
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Moore’s Law is tapping out, and that’s a big problem for the future of computing, but this latest breakthrough could kick start it again. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A little while ago I reported how MIT...
World’s most advanced nanotube computer keeps Moore’s Law alive, for now
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As transistors reach their physical limits we need to develop fundamentally new computing architectures, and this is just one example of the future of computing. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The world of computing is, frankly, getting...
Scientists find a way to boost solar efficiency to 80 percent
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Solar is already one of the cheapest forms on the planet, and this makes it a slam dunk. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. I’m just going to say it right here right now – solar will win...
Bioengineering breakthrough paves the way for tomorrow’s superplants
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Plants face a variety of stresses, whether it’s crops suffering as a result of climate change, or our new need to grow food on other planets, and this breakthrough makes engineering new plants faster. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote,...
Ingenious new fabric cools you down and warms you up
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We adapt to the weather by changing our clothes, but in the future our clothes will be able to adapt to the weather. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Recently I wrote about a new type of 3D printed fabric...
Scientists create Nanobionic plants that detect chemicals and could grow on Mars
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...
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...
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...
Scientists 3D print Lithium Ion batteries for the first time
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to 3D print batteries means we can create batteries in all shapes and sizes which will be useful for all our new gadgets. Recently I’ve been reporting on a variety of new battery developments, from polymer batteries that can charge your electric...
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...
DARPA splashes $1.5bn to re-invent the way electronics are designed and made
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There is a concern that the lack of focus on developing new, advanced hardware will put US business and its military at a serious disadvantage in the future so DARPA is quadrupling its investments. There is now question that the electronics industry has been...
Scientists push the boundaries of nanotech to build the world’s smallest house
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...
Lamborghini’s futuristic all electric, self healing hyper car won’t have batteries
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It’s likely that our flirtation with battery packs in cars won’t last as long as we think as new wirelessly charged cars start emerging, and as new materials let the cars themselves become the batteries. Lamborghini and MIT recently introduced the Terzo Millennio concept, which...
Berkeley Lab team pushes the limits to build a 1nm transistor
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Berkeley Lab breakthrough might help to reboot Moores Law. Transistor size is an important part of improving the price-performance of today’s computer systems – the smaller your transistors, the more you can fit on a chip and the faster and more efficient your processor can be. Accomplishing...
New Graphene breakthrough reverses paralysis
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Proven in the labs Texas-PEG has already restored motor function in injured lab rats. It isn’t the first time that we’re read about new breakthroughs that have repaired, and reversed serious paralysis but now Graphene, the super material that seems to have almost limitless...
Carbon nanotube breakthrough promises faster, lower power processors
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Carbon nanotube transistors finally out perform their traditional silicon counterparts. The computing industry has long seen carbon nanotube transistors as something of a Holy Grail – promising not just faster performance but also lower power consumption than their silicon based equivalents. And it has long...
The death and rebirth of Moore’s Law
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Moore’s Law redefines itself for the next decade of computing. Early in 2016 the worldwide semiconductor industry acknowledged what has become increasingly obvious to everyone involved: Moore’s law, the principle that has powered the information technology revolution since the 1960s, is nearing its end....
