Stanford researchers built a particle accelerator on a computer chip
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Particle accelerators are useful for all kinds of things, from finding new particles to helping build better semiconductors, and now we have a way to miniaturise them and put them on a chip. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my...
MIT researchers can now use lasers to look at your insides from a distance
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF On the one hand a technology like this can replace ultrasound one day, but on the other there are likely to be serious privacy implications. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Ultrasound has seen a number of improvements...
Researchers repurpose tractor beam tech to create interactive holograms
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of entertainment is immersive and 3D, but getting there is proving hard, that said though there have been breakthroughs. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently I’ve been showing off videos of the world’s first real...
Shooting laser beams from your eyes a reality after scientific breakthrough
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Ocular lasers have many applications, but frankly I’m not sure what most of those could be (yet). Death rays anyone? Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Recently I talked about a new set of Mission Impossible style smart contact...
MIT’s crazy laser can beam adverts directly into your ears
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We now have the technology to beam sound directly into people’s ears, and future admen can’t wait to get hold of the tech. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. In the future, if we futurists are to believed, which...
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...
Shooting lasers at drones helps DARPA keep them airborne forever
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more companies field drones one of their biggest hurdles is keeping them airborne for long periods of time, DARPA’s latest program hopes to solve that. DARPA, the bleeding edge research arm of the US Military that’s bought and bringing you everything from conscious robots and autonomous...
New Russian laser weapon obliterates targets in seconds
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The next generation of warfare will include many things, from autonomous hunter killer robots and intelligent hypersonic weapons, and lasers. As what’s being termed the new Cold War hots up I’m seeing a surge in the pace of development of fully and semi-autonomous weapons...
China unveils their revolutionary ZKZM-500 laser assault rifle
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As lasers become more efficient, and as the battery packs needed to power them become more dense and powerful, we’ll continue to see the miniaturisation and deployment of increasingly powerful laser weaponry. Artificially intelligent “fire and forget” cruise missiles, quantum internet and quantum radar,...
Lockheed Martin awarded contract to arm US Navy destroyers with lasers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We are entering a new era of warfare, full of AI fuelled semi-autonomous weapons, hypersonic missiles and lasers. The US military is increasingly ramping up its interest in, and spending on, new laser weapons, that will be positioned at forward operating bases, and on...
The Pentagon is making lasers that create voices out of thin air
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to use lasers to create sound opens up a weird array of new use cases, from crowd control to just plain being able to freak people out… Within three years, the US Pentagon’s non-lethal weapons lab hopes to have a direct energy...
World’s most powerful laser will be able to rip matter out of a vacuum
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As laser technology develops at an accelerating rate it’s increasingly being used to help scientists unlock the mysteries of the universe, and many other things besides. Amazingly physicists are getting close to building lasers powerful enough to rip matter out of a vacuum, yes,...
Scientists have created the world’s best and biggest 3D living hologram
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists, and society at large, have been waiting for holograms technology to appear on the market for decades, and while you’ll still have to wait before you can buy one in the shops we’re starting to edge closer to realising the dream. Science fiction...
The F-35 could be the first US aircraft to be outfitted with laser weapons
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Laser weapons were once relegated to science fiction movies but soon they’ll come of age. A press briefing in the Netherlands earlier this week for the F-35 has restarted the rumour mill that the F-35 will be one of the first US military platforms...
Lockheed shoots drones out of the sky with it’s newest laser weapon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Laser weapons are coming of age and it won’t be long before they’re deployed on the battlefield, and that’s bad news for drones and drone fans Remember when you were growing up and every sci fi film you watched, from James Bond to Star...
World first as scientists create the first Black Hole on Earth
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It can be said that science fiction writers have a love affair with black holes, and now a team of American scientists have managed to spontaneously create a molecule sized one here on Earth. Black holes are without question the most powerful objects in...
A miniature CERN, scientists create a ‘Particle Accelerator on a Chip’
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Particle accelerators are enormous beasts but being able to miniaturise them and put them onto chips will democratise the technology and open doors for new discoveries in energy, healthcare, materials and many more fields of science. Sixteen months ago The Gordon and Betty Moore...
Fast, deadly laser wielding underwater robots revolutionise fish farming
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Inventors have found a novel way to combine new technologies together to help fish farmers reduce pollution, reduce costs and improve the yield, and health, of their farm reared Salmon. When you think about laser-wielding robots that are equipped with the latest machine vision...
British Aerospace unveils the world’s first laser deflector shield concept
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Plenty of companies are developing new laser and direct energy weapons systems but none have ever managed to create one, that might be about to change. Deflector shields are the stuff of science fiction – whether it’s the rippling green shields that saw off...
US Army to equip its bases and vehicles with laser weapons by 2023
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF They’re finally here, now we’re just waiting for the laser guns. The US Army have announced that they are going to be going all in on laser and direct energy weapons and that they will be rolling them out to all of their Forward Operating...
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