Seabricks new floating bricks are designed to give future ocean cities great foundations
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As global sea levels rise and inundate many coastal mega cities countries are considering building oceanic cities. 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. As sea...
Wilson debuts an airless 3D printed NBA basketball
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D printing lets us manufacture things that previously would have been impossible, costly, or both. 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. A hole in your...
Some engineers just made themselves some unnatural human cyborg cells
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF You are biology, and biology has its limits, but if the cells in your body had the best of biology and the best of “tech” then it could be the ultimate disease fighting machine … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future...
Researchers used a quantum computer to invent a new cooling material
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Quantum computers will one day help us invent and design new things, from materials and drugs, to entire systems, in seconds thereby rapidly accelerating the rate of global innovation and change. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses...
A US startup says 3D printing solid state batteries could double their capacity
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF By using new manufacturing techniques we can do things we couldn’t do before, such as using nanoscale manufacturing to increase battery energy densities. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, ...
Researchers have invented a new kind of material that thinks for itself
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Smart materials will make a huge difference to the product we make, how we use them, and how they interact with us and the environment. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, subscribe to the podcast, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential...
This pyramid shaped lens eliminates the need for solar panels to track the Sun
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Not only does this boost efficiency and solar conversion, but it also eliminates the need for solar tracking systems … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, subscribe to the podcast, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech...
These new plastic batteries could make low cost grid scale storage possible
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Renewable energy technologies don’t generate electricity all the time – yet – so it has to be stored, and when it comes to grid scale storage cost is king. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University,...
An AI just invented a new enzyme that breaks down plastics in weeks
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Firstly AI creating new enzymes is a game changer that accelerates new product development, and secondly plastic is a scourge, so this breakthrough has a double whammy. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about...
A new DNA tool is speeding up vaccine development by a million fold
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In short? The faster we can create vaccines for diseases the fewer people that have to suffer or die from those diseases. Enough said? Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and...
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....
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...
A new biocompatible AI takes healthcare monitoring to the next level
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Most medical implants are dumb, but by creating the world’s first biocompatible AI researchers are literally putting a doctor inside your body. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch...
Researchers have flown the world’s smallest flying computers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Flying computers, or Smart Dust, has applications in environmental monitoring and elsewhere. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. As though microchips, which are now almost as small as a grain of dust,...
Scientists used CRISPR to create a superbug resistant to all viruses on Earth, again
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This is the second time we’ve created a superbug, and it shows how powerful gene editing technology can be. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Do you remember the time I talked...
Energy free aerogels help scientists turn air into clean water
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Only 3% of the Earth’s water is fresh, and most of that is locked in the atmosphere. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Some say future wars will be fought over water,...
MIT’s newest material contains sensors and a neural network
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As technology gets smaller it’s going to help us transform everything around us in new ways … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Materials have always been a physical thing. But that’s...
Gravity energy storage finds a new way to solve renewable energy’s achilles heel
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today solar panels only generate electricity when there’s sunlight, wind farms when there’s wind, so energy needs to be stored so it can be released later. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Renewable...
Researchers innovative nanomaterial opens the door for bulletproof shirts
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our ability to engineer materials at the nano level improves we can create new materials with amazing properties. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. If you’ve ever fancied a bullet proof...
This new shape shifting material responds to light
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Materials form the foundation of every product and thing in the universe, so the more kinds of materials we have the more possibilities we have. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The...