An AI controlled drone killed – didn’t kill its operator in battle simulations
WHY THIS MATTERS INN BRIEF You have to be very careful how you assign AI tasks because some AI’s might just do anything to accomplish their goals, including killing the human operators and destroying comms infrastructure. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses...
NASA’s hypersonic Rotating Detonation Engine passes first crucial tests
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Explosions are normally bad in engines, but done in the right way they are the future of jet engine design and hypersonic vehicles. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, ...
The USAF’s Project VENOM is turning old F-16’s into drone wingmen
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In military terms over match refers to military superiority, and the US is worried it’s loosing its over match capability to China. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch...
China’s space agency tests a first of a kind Stirling Engine
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Stirling engines have many advantages over other forms of electricity generation, especially in space, and China have beaten NASA again to the first tests. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and...
Ultra high capacity bacterial made DNA hard drives get a boost with new funding round
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF DNA storage can store almost half an Exabyte of information in a gram, and is revolutionary. But it’s still early days for the technology. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and...
In a first an AI pilot flew a real uncrewed F16 in simulated aerial dog fights
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF By testing its first AI pilot in real planes the US could suddenly field thousands of old grounded planes in battle to regain overmatch against their opponents. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about...
DARPA’s unveils its revolutionary CRANE X-Plane with no moving parts
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Flaps and aerlons create drag and increase fuel consumption on planes, but what if you didn’t need any of that? 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...
NIST created the first atomic communications system, played games, and watched TV
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Future communications could be atom based not necessarily electromagnetic or RF based … there’s a thought. 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. Scientists at US...
The US military is significantly ramping up its interest in quantum communications
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF On the battlefield electronic communications are almost the key to the battle, but new quantum technologies are making it easier – and harder – to spy on the enemy so militaries around the world are ramping their investments and research. Love the Exponential Future?...
The US Navy asks for massive drone swarms to overcome future adversaries
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Imagine trying to stop thousands of kamikaze drones – it’d be difficult to impossible which is why the US military wants them. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch...
An autonomous Blackhawk just successfully completed its first mock rescue mission
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Helicopter crews in war time are put at high risk during search and rescue operations but now an autonomous Blackhawk could see pilots grounded. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and...
As Arctic tensions heat up DARPA wants to control ice
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The US military often innovate at the bleeding edge and beyond, and this is another example of out the box futures thinking that could also have commercial applications. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read...
A new DARPA project is experimenting with living factories in space
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Why take stuff with you into space when bacteria and other bugs can make everything you need in situ? 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....
World’s first real warp bubble created by accident as scientists mull future warp drive
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Lab accidents are creating all manner of breakthroughs at the moment, in anti-biotics and now warp drives … what’s next?! 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...
Sensors that detect Covid-19 in the air get major US military funding
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If you’d like to know if there are any pathogens in the air around you then this is the tech for you. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch...
World’s first living robots made by AI surprise scientists by spontaneously reproducing themselves
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI, supercomputers and scientists created the world’s first living programable robots from frog cells, and they just spontaneously reproduced themselves surprising the everyone … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and...
DARPA and GE developing truck mounted labs to churn out synthetic DNA and RNA vaccines
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are many parts of the world that need vaccines, especially in a pandemic, and this system will not only be fast it’ll be portable and be able to produce vaccines at scale. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself...
GE teams up with NIH to put a COVID-19 sensor in your smartphone
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF How many times during the pandemic did you wonder if you’d been in contact with “the virus” – this could tell you in the future. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech...
This 3D printed heat exchanger extracts up to 500 litres of pure water from air
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Water is seen by many as an increasingly scarce commodity with 129 countries estimated to experience extreme water stress by 2030, this tech could help. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. According...
Living pharmacies within our bodies could help cure jet lag and disease
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today we make drugs in factories and then inject and pop them when we need to – but what if our bodies could make those drugs in vivo at the first sign of disease? Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future...
