NASA’s revolutionary metamaterial “morphing” wing mimics birds wings
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Aircraft wings are subject to different conditions during flight, but until now rigid wings weren’t optimal for any of them. A team of researchers led by NASA and MIT in the US have come up with a radical new aeroplane wing design that is...
Revolutionary polymorphic liquid metal paves the way for shape shifting robots
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Our ability to create robots that can shape shift and change their shape is a matter of when, not if, and we’re getting closer. Between the US Pentagon’s use of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) to defend its critical systems from attack, DARPA’s proposal to...
3D Printing with sound, new tech opens door to printed cosmetics, food, and drugs
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As 3D printing becomes more popular the ability to control the size of droplets opens the door to 3D printing everything from cosmetics and materials, to pharmaceutical drugs. Harvard University has announced that its researchers have developed a way to print objects using sound....
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...
Revolutionary bio-electronic implant heals nerves, then vanishes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many people around the world suffer from what is today irreparable nerve damage, but this new technology can repair these nerves, restore bodily functions, and disappear without trace. Lots of people, especially the military, are increasingly interested in creating electronic devices that disappear once...
US researchers get $1.7m grant to create wonder bio-material that lasts 500 million years
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Everything in the universe is made from material, whether it’s biological or synthetic, and as we unravel natures mysteries we could create products that, literally, last forever. It’s the most durable biological material you’ve never heard of, Sporopollenin, and it makes plastics and other materials...
Scientists jumped out of a plane to create a new wonder material
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Everything is made from some form of material, whether it be organic or inorganic, which means the right breakthroughs can change industries forever. Most people don’t care about materials – even self-healing materials, or state of the art programmable materials, or materials that will...
Featured Futurist, TV Interview: The Future of Aviation 2020 to 2070, APEX Insider
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The pace of change is accelerating, and new technologies are re-writing the narrative for many industries, including aviation. In the coming decades the aviation industry will, arguably, see more change than it has in the past century, whether it’s because of the introduction of...
Breakthrough carbon fiber battery could usher in batteryless electric vehicles
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our understanding of how to turn mundane objects and materials into batteries increases in the future anything and everything could be a battery. As I discussed a little while ago Carbon Fiber is going through its own little revolution, firstly it can now...
Physicists have discovered the world’s first “time crystal”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Time crystals are unique, and new, and it’s believed they could open the door to creating incredibly weird and useful new materials. Physicists at Yale University have discovered something extraordinary, a new material that more and more people are calling “Time Crystals,” a form...
Synthetic biology just got its own special programming language
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to create and control discrete chemical and biological processes and reactions is extremely difficult, this new language aims to simplify it, alot. Synthetic biology is an exciting new field of research that applies engineering principles to biology, and so far it’s being used...
Ground transport at 760mph, HTT unveil their hyperloop passenger capsule
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Countries around the world reinventing mobility and transportation, and the Hyperloop is a crucial part of many countries future vision. Elon Musk’s dream of travelling by hyperloop, essentially a Mach 1 train in a vacuum tube, is getting closer to reality as the UAE...
Futurist Keynote, London: The Future of Superyacht Design, SuperyachtNews
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the superyacht industry hots up and competition intensifies superyacht companies have to work harder to stay at the leading edge of design trends. Firstly, I’d like to thank the team at RWD, a superyacht design company in the UK, and Feyi and Rory from...
Scientists make biodegradable plastic from sugar and carbon dioxide
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Plastic has turned into the scourge of the environment, and companies are tripling their efforts to find viable environmentally friendly alternatives. Society is producing more waste plastic than ever before and it’s polluting our oceans and contaminating our drinking water. By all accounts by...
MIT created a nanobot spray that gives dumb objects superpowers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to spray nanobots onto surfaces and objects is a fast way to turn them from dumb objects into smart ones that have new sensing capabilities. You may have sworn off aerosol sprays back in the 1990’s when everyone was talking about the hole...
Scientists use electro-charged nanoparticles to create liquid mirrors
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to apply new properties to glass, such as liquid mirrors, could help companies reduce their air conditioning bill and help homeowners improve their privacy. Researchers from Imperial College London in the UK have developed a new material that can turn a transparent surface into a...
Revolutionising communications, Kymeta starts shipping metamaterial antennas
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Metamaterials have amazing, and unique, properties and they’re turning up in more places, and helping revolutionise more industries. The first 400 flat panel antennas developed by Redmond based Kymeta, which has received over $200million in funding so far from luminaries such as Bill Gates,...
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...
This new metamaterial could turn your car into its own airbag
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to create materials that can transition between hard and soft states could open the door to a whole host of new applications. I think you’ll agree with me that rubber and steel are at different ends of the spectrum when it comes...
