Thermal imaging enabled drones help Chinese identify people with Covid-19
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A shortage of Covid-19 testing kits and the need to try to identify people infected with the virus to stop it spreading means governments are now turning to drones for help. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. As...
Sweat sensor for wearables opens up a treasure trove of healthcare data
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Sweat sensors aren’t sexy but they can open up a treasure trove of health information that can help keep you feeling at the top of your game. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Sweat might make you smell...
This new powerful terahertz camera uses lasers and radiation to see inside objects
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Sometimes we want to be able to see inside of objects, and using the quirkiness of terahertz radiation now we can like never before. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently I talked about a weird new type...
Next gen wearable monitors your blood and the environment to improve your health
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s wearables don’t monitor many of your vital signs or the environment, and now researchers have found a way to close that gap. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Let’s face it, you’re wearable sucks. If it’s anything...
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...
Alphabet’s Everyday Robot project creates robots that learn without programming
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If we had to code every behaviour a robot needs to learn it’d be a never ending task, but if robots can learn like humans without needing to be coded then that’d be game changing. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch...
A new artificial human skin gives people spiderman like superpowers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As sensors and flexible electronics start to combine it opens up new amazing possibilities. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Researchers at the University of Connecticut and University of Toronto have developed artificial skin that gives its wearer, whether they’re robots...
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...
IBM unveil their artificial tongue to improve food safety
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are plenty of situations where we want to test things, such as food and water, to see if they’re safe without actually tasting them ourselves, and now you can. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Artificial Intelligence (AI)...
World’s first batteryless bluetooth sensor harvests energy from the air
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF IOT devices will be crippled if they all need batteries to run, but by harvesting energy from the air we can place sensors anywhere and everywhere. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Semiconductor firm Wiliot has demonstrated the first ever...
World’s first autonomous robot completes its journey inside the human body
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As healthcare and robotics merge, from Robo-Surgeons to Nanobots, we need to find new ways to help them navigate to where they’re needed. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Surgeons have used robots operated by joysticks for more than...
Future musicians could be trained by AI
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Advances in AI technology mean we have a variety of new ways to educate and train children, all of which could help them learn more, faster. There’s a lot of technology emerging in the education sector that’s designed to help us learn faster and...
Colour night vision breakthrough turns the darkest midnight into day
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to see in colour, even during the darkest nights, is a game changer that will have ramifications for multiple industries. When we think of night vision our minds automatically turn to grainy black and green images. But today things have begun to...
First of a kind material lets solar panels generate electricity from snow
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As our knowledge of materials and how they behave improves we can generate electricity from almost anything. Scientists have announced that they’ve developed a first of its kind material that generates electricity from nothing other than, wait for it… snow. Based upon the principles...
Paper based bio-battery uses bacteria to power the internet of things
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The Internet of Things relies of billions of sensors to work, but only a handful of these sensors can be powered with traditional batteries, so new alternatives are needed. In remote parts of the world, access to batteries for diagnostic devices, medical equipment and...
Simple paper blood test diagnoses disease faster and cheaper
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Not everyone has access to a lab that can process blood tests, so this breakthrough will help people in developing nations diagnose disease faster. Dutch and Japanese scientists have developed an inexpensive new paper-based blood test kit that quickly determines if patients have infectious...
Researchers have created a digital nose that can sniff out disease
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are many ways to detect disease, and one of the most effective ways is using smell, so scientists have developed a digital nose. An electronic nose typically identifies odours by detecting the “fingerprint” of a chemical compound across an array of sensors that are...
Russian researchers used a common inkjet printer to print advanced Nano-Sensors
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we develop more nanoscale things we need to be able to keep track of them and monitor them and now we have an inexpensive way to achieve that. Researchers from ITMO University in Russia have created a new type of optical Nano-Sensor that...
US military genetics program to turn marine life into giant living sensor networks
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we learn more about the genetic code and how to modify it organisations around the world are starting to look into new ways of turning nature to their advantage. A few months ago I wrote about how DARPA, the bleeding edge research arm...
Scientists have created an ultrasound patch to monitor your vital health
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Having access to ultrasound is like having a window into your body, and now it’s on a patch. Earlier this year we heard how scientists from the University of California San Diego in the US had developed a flexible ultrasound patch that allows users to see...
