Vodafone combines 5G and haptics to let rugby players 100 miles apart tackle each other
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This is just one example of how 5G will let us work and play in new ways, and it’s just the beginning. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Vodafone showed off several demos of its new 5G network...
Nike’s new 3D printed kicks get set to revolutionise retail
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Retail will soon be going through another disruption, one where personalised products are made on demand in the back of stores, and the sportswear industry are leading the charge. We’re facing a retail revolution, another one, and this time it’s not e-commerce, one where...
This is the world’s first 3D printed carbon fiber bike
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Carbon fiber’s light weight and superior strength make it idea for many applications, but up until now it’s been expensive and very difficult to work with to create products, that’s all about to change. Modern carbon fibre bikes, stiffer and stronger than their metal...
Under Armour’s new clothes help heal your body while sleeping
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we develop new materials, and find new ways to use them for our benefit, one day in the future we’ll suddenly discover that clothes can do much more than clothe us. Could the right clothes, in this case pyjamas, help athletes, and the...
Nike unveils its futuristic running track
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Anything that makes exercise more entertaining and engaging has to be applauded, and nike’s latest innovation is a great example of fun and function. Nike has constructed a pop-up arena track in the middle of Manila that it’s calling the “world’s first LED running track,” that has...
Adidas unveils their first 3D printed mass market sneaker
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D printing will usher in a new era of on demand, personalised clothing that will revolutionise products, supply chains, and companies. Adidas, who recently made a sneaker from recycled ocean plastic, and other clothing manufacturers have been experimenting with new ways to manufacture their...
These new Adidas trainers are made entirely from up-cycled ocean plastic
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Soon there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans, but hopefully up-cycling ocean plastic can reverse that trend and that’ll be good news for everyone. By 2050 it’s estimated that there will be more plastic than fish in the sea, and that...
Oracle’s America’s Cup yacht will never sail, because it flies
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s ultra expensive racing yachts don’t float, they fly, and this years America’s cup could see the first time a boats’ hull never hits the water As far as sporting trophies go, it’s hard to find any older than the America’s Cup. Sailing teams have...
Under Armour’s new trainers are inspired by nature, designed by an AI and 3D printed
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The rise of a new breed of creative machines is helping companies design and iterate new products at an accelerating rate, couple these together with new manufacturing techniques and we’ll soon be on the cusp of another manufacturing revolution. The next pair of trainers...
This scuba mask concept lets divers swim without tanks
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New nanomaterials that can filter and separate out a wide variety of chemicals, organic materials and particulates have many uses, from filtering pollutants from seawater to filtering bacteria from blood. South Korean designer Jeabyun Yeon has unveiled his new concept of a scuba mask...
Scientists use defects to create a new programmable material
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Programmable materials are a new class of revolutionary materials that can be manufactured once and then programmed to alter their properties and shape on demand to suit a limitless number of use cases. New research by a team at Purdue University has shown that honeycomb...
Australian researchers reproduce the effects of excercise with a pill
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Exercise has undisputed benefits when it comes to helping us live longer, healthier lives but for those people with chronic conditions, or for those who can’t exercise, a medical alternative would dramatically change their lives for the better Firstly, let me say this about...
Fabric circuits open a door to smarter clothes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A new development in material science opens the door for the development of more advanced Smart Clothing. Many of today’s smart clothes, such as those from Adidas, Athos, Nike, Ralf Lauren and Under Armour rely on sensors, such as EMG sensors, woven into the fabric...
The future of jobs in a Machine World
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF We are all aware that technology is capable of replacing particular categories of jobs, but often those jobs “belong to someone else” and the impact on our own jobs is minimal. Today though new classes of emerging technologies, from artificial intelligence to machine vision are...
Uzbekistan uses genetic testing to discover the next Olympians
Uzbekistan hunts for natural born winners To spot future olympians it’s common practice to wait to see if youngsters are actually good at any given activity but the central Asian country of Uzbekistan is testing the genes of children as young as 10 to try and find future champion athletes. The nation...
Team GB cyclists get ready to unveil their seven percent advantage at Rio 2016
Olympic teams used to look for marginal gains but now new technology gains appear to be anything but marginal Update Team GB win gold and set new World Record of 3:50:570, a time that “shocked the world of cycling” Great Britain’s cyclists are pursuing Olympic gold in Rio...
World records set to tumble on Rio 2016’s nano-tech track
The Rio 2016 running track is the fastest ever and records will fall The running track of the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro passed inspection rounds on May 9th earlier this year and was unveiled to the world shortly afterwards. While, to many people it’s most striking feature might...
Science meets technology at Team USA’s training camp
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Everything inside Team USA’s olympic training camp screams technology. Outside it was a beautiful spring day with Pikes Peak looming majestically to the west, but as Desiree Linden pounded out miles on a treadmill in a hermetically sealed room at the Olympic Training Center...
Rio 2016 introduces tests to hunt for genetically modified athletes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the not so distant future drugs cheats will give way to gene cheats, and WADA plans on catching them all – eventually. Mention Erythropoietin to most people on the street and they won’t have any idea what you’re talking about. It took over...
Olympians are electrocuting their brains to improve performance
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Mental preparation for the Olympic games has always been a crucial part of a sports persons training, now Olympians have turned to neuroscience to gain an edge. If you see Michael Tinsley, a silver medalist in the 400 meter hurdles, wearing some crazy- looking headphones,...
