Wearables join the fight to help identify people infected with Covid-19
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Coronavirus tests have been in very short supply, and many simply don’t work, so wearables are being bought in to help join the fight. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Since COVID-19 first began to spread, several digital health...
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...
Featured Futurist: Stuff Magazine, The Invisible Wearables
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future wearables won’t just track your heart rate, they’ll know more about you than you do and help you in ways you couldn’t imagine. Firstly, thank you to James and the team for inviting me to be Stuff magazine’s new monthly columnist...
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...
Futurist Keynote, France: The Future of Sport, Decathlon
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Sport is amazingly powerful, it transcends national politics, and its benefits on our mental and physical well being are well documented, so let’s take a look at what the future holds. It was with great delight that I was asked to be the keynote...
Magnetic human skin breakthrough could lead to new types of wearables
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Technology is getting closer to the human body but we’re still culturally not ready to “merge” with it yet, so artificial skins could be an interesting middle ground until that happens. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Recently...
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...
Researchers tap transistors unique quantum fingerprints to ID systems and stop cyber criminals
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As the rise in the number of connected devices and systems is out paced only by the rise in #cyber attacks, researchers have found a new way to identify individual systems at the quantum level. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch...
DNA based marketing is becoming a reality, and brands are cashing in
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As gene sequencing gets cheaper, and as companies get more access to personal information, from biomarkers and wearables to big data, companies can target you in ultra-personalised ways you’d never likely dreamt of before. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore...
Teslasuit’s haptic bodysuit lets VR users experience full body immersion
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Virtual Reality headsets are all well and good but they only give users a visual experience, and haptic suits literally let you feel everything. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Following on from Disney’s haptic VR jacket, that let’s...
Shooting laser beams from your eyes a reality after scientific breakthrough
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Ocular lasers have many applications, but frankly I’m not sure what most of those could be (yet). Death rays anyone? Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. Recently I talked about a new set of Mission Impossible style smart contact...
Mission Impossible style smart contact lens gets US military’s attention
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As technology gets smaller the world’s first true Smart Contact Lenses get closer than ever, and there are plenty of companies hungrily watching the space. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. The bleeding edge US military research organisation Defense...
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...
Revolutionary Bio-Compatible transistors will let AI’s interface with your brain
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Neural interfaces that let us communicate with each other and the machines around us, as well as stream our thoughts to TV, will revolutionise humanity, but we need bio-compatible hardware. It’s a fact that silicon transistors and the brain don’t mix, and while you...
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...
Scientists 3D print Lithium Ion batteries for the first time
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to 3D print batteries means we can create batteries in all shapes and sizes which will be useful for all our new gadgets. Recently I’ve been reporting on a variety of new battery developments, from polymer batteries that can charge your electric...
3D printed fashion takes over New York Fashion Week
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF 3D printed clothes can be customised and printed on demand using sustainable new materials, giving fashion designers new options and reducing the industry’s environmental impact. Downloadable 3D printed personalised sustainable fashion. I think you’ll agree it’s quite a catchy phrase – or at least...
New glasses will beam augmented and virtual reality directly into your eyes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Augmented Reality glasses and Virtual Reality headsets use complex computers and optics to create their effects, researchers believe they can eliminate these overheads by beaming the images directly into your eyes. Researchers have proposed a new way to build Augmented Reality (AR) smart glasses...
This nano-membrane turns your skin into a loudspeaker
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Displays can increasingly be placed anywhere, and now the same can be said of loudspeakers. We all are familiar with loudspeakers; the critical element found in almost every household in one form or the other – whether they’re in smartphones, TV’s or stashed in...
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...
