Futurist keynote, London: The Future of Capital Markets, Accenture Capital Markets Summit
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Investments and the capital markets, arguably, sit at the heart of our capitalist society, but they, and the industries they rely on to find Alpha, are starting to change at a faster rate than at any point in their illustrious history and it’s sending shockwaves...
British Aerospace unveils the world’s first laser deflector shield concept
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Plenty of companies are developing new laser and direct energy weapons systems but none have ever managed to create one, that might be about to change. Deflector shields are the stuff of science fiction – whether it’s the rippling green shields that saw off...
Nissan’s self-driving cars are coming to London
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The UK and Europe lag behind the US and other countries in trialling autonomous vehicles, but now the UK Government looks like it’s starting to thaw and let manufacturers loose in the cities In the first test of its kind in Europe, next month...
UK’s NHS gives millions of Londoners their own on call AI doctor
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF For better or worse, more and more healthcare services are being augmented and automated using new artificial intelligence services, only time will tell what the results will be. A few months ago Baidu rolled out a limited trial of a new virtual doctors service,...
World’s tightest atomic knot will help scientists create new super materials
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Knots haved helped society advance, whether it’s helping us make clothes or kevlar, now the world’s tightest atomic knot might help create a new generation of super materials. In a feat that breaks one of the most obscure world records in science, a team...
Airbus will test its new “Sky taxi” later this year
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF With more people moving into the cities gridlock is becoming the bane of most people’s lives, Airbus and others, including Uber propose taking to the skies but people with vertigo should watch out. Airbus has been eyeing the increasingly interesting, and viable, flying taxi...
New breakthrough polymer could charge electric cars in seconds
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Electric vehicles have been held back by battery and charging technologies, now a single supercapacitor technology might be able to solve both in one hit. UK technology firm Augmented Optics and its partners, the University of Surrey and the University of Bristol have revealed a...
Researchers discover the brain helps kill bacteria and boost antibiotics
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It’s a well known fact that bacterial resistance to antibiotics has reached crisis levels, now a new breakthrough could give antibiotics a well needed boost. It turns out that our brain might control much more than just our thoughts and physical actions. Announced this week...
Clean coal, breakthrough captures CO2 from power plants and turns it into profit
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF CO2 is a major greenhouse gas but until now capturing it was difficult and expensive, this new technology could help reduce global emissions by 10%. India have made a breakthrough in the race to make useful products out of planet heating CO2 emissions, and...
World first as scientists sequence the genome of the Ash tree
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In recent years Ash trees have been decimated by ash dieback disease, now that scientists have sequenced their genome conservations can craft new ways to save them for future generations. The genome of the Common Ash tree, fraxinus excelsior, has been sequenced for the first...
New heat resistant material shatters records
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As we push the boundaries and create new, more powerful nuclear reactors, and faster vehicles, protecting them from thermal harm becomes increasingly important, this breakthrough could mean more powerful reactors and faster hypersonic vehicles A team of researchers in the UK have discovered that...
UK approves designer babies and the first will be born in 2017
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF By authorising the creation of so called designer babies UK regulators are permitting doctors to use new gene therapy treatments to save, and change, lives, but without proper oversight we could quickly enter the wild west. Last year the UK changed its laws in order...
Amazon Prime Air completes its first UK commercial drone delivery
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Brick and mortar retailers have always had an advantage over their online cousins when it comes to delivery times, walk in, buy your item, walk out, but on demand, real time drone deliveries will erode that advantage Amazon announced today that his company has successfully...
Futurist keynote, London: The Future of Asset Management, Euromoney Asset Management 2.0 Summit
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The world of asset management is changing faster than ever before so it’s imperative that in these times, when there are more demographic, regulatory and technological than ever before senior leaders stay informed and ahead of the curve. Firstly, thank you to Alyona for...
Scientists discovered a planet ravaged by storms of rubies and sapphires
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This is the first time that we have observed weather on another planet, the fact that the clouds are made from rubies and sapphires just makes it alot cooler Elon Musk wants to travel to Mars, but I think he should seriously reconsider after...
The ultimate bioweapon, scientists have developed an Extinction Gene
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists now have the knowledge and the tools they need to create, and deliver, Doomsday genes which can selectively target and exterminate entire species. Here’s a question that occurs only to madmen and geneticists… How do you get a gene that kills a species...
Scientists turn nuclear waste into diamond batteries that last forever
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Nuclear waste is normally buried beneath ground and left forever, this new breakthrough gives nuclear processing companies a new option and a new revenue stream. Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed a method to turn radioactive graphite blocks, a waste product of...
Scientists fry ions with microwaves to build highly scalable quantum computers
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The more Qubits a quantum computer can run the more powerful it becomes, this breakthrough could give researchers a new way to create ultra powerful, highly scalable systems in an affordable, simple way Physicists from the University of Sussex, a member of the UK’s...
BAE uses AI to defeat todays state of the art electronic jamming systems
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF More countries are using increasingly advanced electronic warfare and jamming systems to disable everything from drones to entire fleets and countering them has become a top priority for military and security services around the world. Radar used to be a slow science. Electronic warfare...
