The robots of the future might not have a brain
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The classical view of an intelligent robot is one whose intelligence comes from a centralised location, such as a brain, or in their case, a centralised computing platform, but there’s no reason why this has to be the case. The classical view of a...
Semi-synthetic cells could revolutionise everything from sensors to healthcare
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The ability to create semi-synthetic cells that have both organic and inorganic properties opens up a whole world of new use cases that span everything from biotech to new forms of manufacturing. The more we study natural biological cells, the more we learn about...
MIT’s breakthrough battery makes electricity from thin air, literally
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We still live in a world where many people live in energy poverty and inventions like this one could one day become an important part of the overall energy mix. Energy devices that can generate electricity from thin air are increasingly appearing in labs...
China’s new “Ghost Imaging” satellites will make US stealth obsolete
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The age of using stealth to avoid radar and other electromagnetic based detection systems is coming to an end as new quantum sensors and sensing systems will increasingly render today’s stealth obsolete. Following on from their announcement that they’ve created the world’s first Quantum...
Quantum sensor breakthrough could one day replace global GPS systems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s sensors are sensitive, but Quantum sensors are millions times more sensitive, meaning that they can detect even more things with even more accuracy. Thanks to the miracle of GPS we can now work out where we are almost anywhere on Earth, but it...
Passive Wi-Fi breakthrough could revolutionise the Internet of Things
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Wi-Fi is ubiquitous, sensors are ubiquitous, but putting batteries in small sensors is impractical, now passive Wi-Fi that doesn’t need an energy source will change all that For those that live in developed countries it has to be said that wireless internet, and Wi-Fi,...
Lockheed’s new camera puts a space telescope in your pocket
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Increasingly we’re using new, and advanced, optical systems to monitor everything that goes on around us, both on Earth and in space, and the more the sensors improve the more we can watch. Today’s space telescopes, like the Hubble or the newest kid on the...
Euclideon unveils the world’s first multi-user hologram table
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Holograms are a science fiction staple, and using a trick of the light, Euclideon and their new holographic table have gotten closer to bringing them to reality than anyone else. This week Australian company Euclideon announced they’ve managed to build what is being dubbed...
Chicago Police Department goes hi tech to catch murderers in the act
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With the number of shootings and murders in Chicago spiralling the Chicago Police Department have joined other cities in rolling out sensor and software networks that catch killers in the act. In a cramped office in a police station in Chicago’s 11th district, the...
The size of a grain of rice, researchers unveil the world’s smallest computers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Micromotes will stop the sensors at the edge of the world’s networks from flooding datacenters with exabytes of worthless information, and open the door to new computing applications. At just one cubic millimetre in size Micromotes, which are so small that they can almost be...
New ‘Cyborg’ brain implants could help paralysed people walk again
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future we’ll communicate with machines and other people using a form of telepathy, these new glassy carbon sensors just moved us another inch forward. Over the past few years advances in the field of Brain Machine Interfaces (BMI’s), which are essentially interface...
Scientists 3D print an Eagle eye camera that’s smaller than a human hair
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are plenty of devices today that are too small, or lack the computing power to accommodate a traditional camera, new micro-cameras overcome all those issues. It seems that you can’t go anywhere nowadays without a camera tracking you but as ubiquitous as they...
China’s new climate control program is a monster
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A large part of China is arid, with serious implications on the people’s livelihoods and health, the new climate control program will improve their living conditions. China, the world’s second largest economy, announced on Wednesday that it’s going to spend $168 million on a...
Researchers prove your smart watch can flag when you’re getting ill
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Every doctor will tell you that the earlier you can detect and diagnose disease the better your chances of recovery, and the swifter it will be, now smart devices might know you’re ill before you do. Wearables have been struggling to find a “killer...
New Chinese camera can see round corners
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to photograph and “see” objects that are out of sight have both military and civilian applications. In an age dominated by megapixel counts, a research group from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China led by Bin Bai have designed a one megapixel camera...
Scientists have created the coldest object in the Universe
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists have chilled a complex object to almost absolute zero and it could herald breakthroughs in sensor technology, quantum computing and… yes, even teleportation. Nothing can be chilled below absolute zero, or −273.15°C, because at this temperature all molecular motion stops completely. Per Heisenberg’s uncertainty...
New H2 smartphone puts a lab grade molecular sensor in your hands
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to analyse the chemical composition of products, particularly counterfeit ones, has long been something you could only do in a lab, now the lab’s in the palm of your hand. Smartphones already do a lot of things, in fact, it’s likely that...
Soldiers digital twins let US Army 3D print replacement body parts in battle
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Thousands of soldiers are injured in battle every year, now the US Army is scanning, digitising and creating digital twins of its soldiers that will let field medics 3D print new body parts in the field that could save their lives. The US military...
Velodyne’s new miniature LiDAR means many more autonomous things
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Most of the new smart things that we are creating rely on sensors to map, move around and interact with our world, and LiDAR is a key sensing technology that helps things see, Velodyne’s new product will accelerate the creation of smart, autonomous things...
Huge new wireless sensor network to help scientists monitor biodiversity in the Amazon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Under funded and under resourced conservationists often work thankless hours in difficult conditions to protect our planets jewels, but now new, lost cost, technologies are providing them with a whole new kit bag of capabilities. Scientists will soon get a sustained, close-up assessment of...
