IBM unveils the world’s first “commercial quantum computer,” but is it?
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the race to be the first company in the world to build a viable, commercial quantum computer heats up IBM moves into prime position. In the gruelling race to build a practical quantum computer, tech companies are keeping their spirits up by loudly...
RNA breakthrough makes it possible to cure Cystic Fibrosis with an inhaler
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A revolutionary new way to deliver mRNA into the body in aerosol form makes genetically editing faulty genes easier than ever before. Recent there have been some almost miraculous medical breakthroughs, from treating patients with inherited genetic diseases with in vivo gene therapy treatments...
Breakthrough AI hacking tool cracks millions of user passwords in minutes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Artificial Intelligence is a cyber security game changer, for better and worse, and we need to be better prepared for what’s coming. Last year the credit reporting agency Equifax announced that malicious hackers had leaked the personal information of over 143 million people after their system...
Google X spins off its molten salt grid scale storage business
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Renewable energy sources only generate electricity when the sun shines or the wind blows, so companies have to find a way to store it so it can be used in times of scarcity. One of the biggest problems with renewable energy is that when...
US proposes to regulate AI the same way it regulates weapons exports
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF AI can be both very beneficial, but also in the wrong hand very dangerous, and the US is thinking about regulating it in the same way they regulate military hardware. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has the capability to be one of, if not the,...
OpenAI develops curious AI’s that learn for themselves
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s AI’s are force fed training information but companies around the world are trying to create AI’s that learn for themselves which will revolutionise the field. When playing a video game, what motivates you to carry on? This question is perhaps too broad to...
NASA’s ISS robot companion CIMON gets caught copping an attitude
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As more machines and humans work alongside one another how we interact with one another will become increasingly crucial. As he entered his final month on the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, Alexander Gerst could be proud that he’s helped given birth to...
Autonomous planes, hypersonic jets and flying cars, Boeing unveils its future
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One day aircraft will be fully autonomous, but getting there is a journey of many steps and this is one of them, and Boeing is placing its bets. Everything it seems these days is going autonomous, from cars, trains and trucks, to giant cargo ships...
Boeing unveil their stunning hypersonic space plane concept
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of transportation is fast, very fast, and companies are once again getting serious about building commercial hypersonic aircraft. It’s a vision of the future that could someday jet people from the Los Angeles to Tokyo in just three hours or cut the...
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...
US researchers get $1.7m grant to create wonder bio-material that lasts 500 million years
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Everything in the universe is made from material, whether it’s biological or synthetic, and as we unravel natures mysteries we could create products that, literally, last forever. It’s the most durable biological material you’ve never heard of, Sporopollenin, and it makes plastics and other materials...
A year after china beat it the US is getting it’s own hackproof quantum network
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The US is increasingly falling behind China in the development of new quantum technologies, and now they’re trying to catch up. A few years ago, Edward Snowden, a contractor working for the NSA, who recently released his own surveillance application for vulnerable reporters and...
Revolutionary brain prosthetic that boosts human memory by 35 percent unveiled
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF They say to live a full life you should experience everything life has to offer, but if you suffer from dementia remembering it all is near impossible, until now. Just months after two different teams of researchers figured out hot to edit and delete...
Elon Musk unveils the future of urban transport, and living on Mars
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Urban transportation is often a nightmare of clogged and congested roads, Musk believes he has a solution, and it’s going underground. Elon Musk unveiled his vision for the Boring Company last night with the unveiling of the company’s first 12 ft wide test tunnel...
Elon Musk gets ready to unveil the future of urban transportation
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tunnelling is often a complex and expensive process but musk has sped up the process by making the tunnels smaller, and now he wants to revolutionise urban transportation. After months of wondering what was going on beneath their feet outsiders are about to get a...
ORNL wireless charging breakthrough unplugs electric vehicles from the grid
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future we won’t have to plug our electric cars into superchargers, we’ll charge them wirelessly at home and when we’re travelling. I’ve been saying for some time now during my keynotes, like the ones recently at GITEX in Dubai, and RWE in...
US military identifies virtual nations as a potential security threat to US sovereignty
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The internet means citizens can now become part of large, virtual collectives, or nations, and there are fears these nations, with their own rules, welfare and support systems, could threaten the power and influence of sovereign nations. When is a nation not a nation?...
Confidence that American’s can spot fake bots plummets to all time low
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If people can longer tell fake content or “people” from what’s real then there’s the threat that trust in each other, and in society and government, could break down. How times have changed. Just a few years ago, before the arrival of fake Chinese...
After four year wait Cape Canaveral gets its license to launch commercial space planes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the past you would need a rocket to get into space, but today there are more planes taking on that role, and Cape Canaveral wants to dominate the future of commercial space flight. As the race for space heats up, Cape Canaveral is...
Pentagon seriously considers using rockets to move soldiers and equipment around the globe
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the cost of access to space continues to fall it opens up new possibilities for a wide range of industries, the us military included. Today the US already uses its unmatched fleet of cargo planes to project its influence and move its forces...
