World first as researchers 3D print capacitors straight into PCB’s
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Our ability to 3D print electronics in a variety of forms is increasing all the time, and that brings a ton of benefits for future gadgets and products. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Using multi-material 3D printers...
New 3D printing technique helps researchers create better shape shifting materials
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are numerous occasions where a shape shifting material, or a reactive material, would be useful and now we have an easier way to create them. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Even without a brain or a...
Harvard invents self-healing rubber to nail your tyre’s puncture problems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF While this is one example of how self-healing materials will be useful there are millions more use cases. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. If the world is free of flat tires a couple decades from now, you...
BigRep unveil the world’s first fully 3D printed electric car
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It’s only a matter of time before we can 3D print an entire car, no matter how complex it is, in one run complete with embedded electronics, power, and sensors. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. One day...
New 3D printed liquid “lab on a chip” paves the way for liquid electronics
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D printing is still relatively nascent but as researchers invent new tools and techniques one breakthrough can revolutionise thousands of fields. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the US have...
Harvard’s new multi-material 3D printer makes printing soft robots faster and easier
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many 3D printers still only print one material, or at best switch between different materials very slowly, this new printer therefore opens up a host of new use cases. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. 3D printers are...
Promising solar energy breakthrough could replace steel making blast furnaces
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Dirty industrial processes use huge amounts of energy and heat to create cement, glass, and steel, and now we have a way to replace them with green energy. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Creating cement, glass, and...
Researchers create a bone like metal foam that heals at room temperature
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When metal breaks it takes a huge amount of energy and heat to fix it, but this new breakthrough fixes that problem. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. For 6,000 years, humans have been making things from metal...
4D Bio-Printing emerges to help scientists print better human organs
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D Printing human organs has its problems so scientists created a 4D Bio-Printing technology to solve them and pave the way for better printed, on demand, human organs that grow with their hosts. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my...
Scientists develop the world’s first infinitely recyclable plastic
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s plastics can’t be recycled forever because of the way they’re made and the way recycling systems today work, but a new breakthrough solves both these issues. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recycling sounds great in principle,...
Watch the world’s largest 3D printer print a 25 foot boat
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D printing improves sustainability, lets us print products on demand and eliminate global supply chains, and revolutionises manufacturing. Now it’s scaling. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Boeing said many years ago that one day they’d like to...
Pinsized sensor brings chemical identification to your smartphone
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are plenty of situations when you want to know what something’s made from, such as food or goods, and soon that power will be in your smartphone. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Imagine pointing your smartphone...
University nabs multi-million pound to create next gen reconfigurable electronics
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When electronic systems are manufactured today they’re fixed forever, but in the future they’ll be able to re-configure themselves opening up millions of new use cases. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More and connect with Matthew. The University of Southampton in the...
Featured Futurist: How 4D Printing Will Shift the Shape of Manufacturing, SAP
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The way we design, imagine, and build products is being revolutionised by the emergence of creative machines and new sci-fi like manufacturing technologies. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More and connect with Matthew. In a brief period, 3D printing — the process...
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...
NASA steps into the unknown with project to 3D print spacecraft in orbit
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Launching equipment and satellites into orbit is expensive, space limited, and slow, so NASA wants to eliminate these bottlenecks and 3D print and assemble objects in space. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. A little while ago I discussed...
Synthetic lifeforms closer to reality after AI creates world’s first synthetic genome
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The creation of the world’s first fully synthetic genome by an AI is a major milestone in synthetic biology researchers quest to create the world’s first fully synthetic lifeforms. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Scientists from ETH Zurich...
Designer cells with two genetic codes give life on Earth a serious upgrade
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future not all life will be organic, increasingly more of it will be synthetic, and that’s a game changer that at the very least means aliens and the X-Men could become real. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore...
KIT’s haptic tech brings a sense of touch to industrial control systems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We have five senses, but we only use two of them, hearing and sight, when interacting with technology, haptics introduces the sense of touch to interfaces. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. To perceive our surroundings humans can draw...
Artificial Photosynthesis breakthrough turns Carbon Dioxide into plastic
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today plastics are made from harmful fossil fuels, but this new process eliminates them from the manufacturing process. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. From fuels, to foam mattresses, to high performance carbon fibers and carbon capturing self-healing materials, scientists are...
