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 cell with two genetic codes “give life on Earth one 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...
Scientists have created a living material that has the three signs of life
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We often think of materials as static things, but what if they were alive? Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. The line between man made materials and living organisms is getting more blurred as time goes by, and it...
New self-healing material rebuilds itself using carbon from the air
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future it will be taken for granted that materials can self-heal, and they’ll be able to do it in a multitude of ways. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. In a world first researchers at MIT in...
New 3D printed material heals itself after being cut in half
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This is one of the first combinations of 3D Printing and Self-Healing materials, and it’s how many materials could be made in the future. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Recently teams of researchers showed off their self-healing computer...
Baxter the robot fixes its mistakes by reading your mind
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Dealing with today’s technology can be cumbersome, which is why researchers think things would be better if it could simply read your mind. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Baxter is but a child, a robot child with...
“Green” concrete could help cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Concrete is a huge contributor to global green house gas emissions, so finding new ways to curb those emissions helps in the bigger battle against climate change. In an age where we can 3D print houses and entire communities using a range of different...
AI and automation: The benefits for business and industry
On 4 August 1997, Skynet, a US military developed program, became self-aware and began to think for itself. Operators tried to deactivate the computer system but the now ‘intelligent’ system perceived this as a threat and in order to protect its mandate of ‘safeguarding the world’ Skynet launched a nuclear...
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...
World first as scientists use tractor beams to make objects dance
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Increasingly the things we think of as science fact are becoming reality, but tractor beams also have more practical applications, such as transforming healthcare and manufacturing. In addition to creating tractor beams like the ones straight out of Star Trek researchers have also been making more...
Israel’s autonomous crane takes aim at the fully automated construction sites of the future
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New technologies like AI, machine vision and autonomous robots and machines mean one day we’ll see fully autonomous construction sites – and they’ll need cranes. A little while ago I discussed how tomorrow’s construction sites will become increasingly autonomous thanks to the arrival of...
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...
Space Tango unveil their autonomous, robotic space based manufacturing platform
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The benefits of manufacturing products in space are clear, but it’s still complex and expensive, this technology could help make space based manufacturing a commercial reality. Over the past year or so I’ve been seeing more and more references made to not just space...
Robot swarms help scientists 3D print the buildings of the future
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more companies explore using 3D printers to print buildings it’s impractical to use just one large printer, so scientists are experimenting with swarms. Today there’s more talk than ever before of using 3D printers to print all sorts of buildings, from small houses, and...
