Edward Willett @ 20-02-2008
As Brian Wang pointed out in the comments to my post about the Technology Review list of 2007’s most exciting technologies, there’s actually a 2008 list. And indeed there is, and here it is:
- Modeling Surprise - Computer modelling continues to advance, but can it ever be completely accurate? Probably not.
- Probabilistic Chips - Uncertainty may not sound like a good thing in computer chips…but then again, maybe it is.
- NanoRadio - Tiny radios built from tiny tubes could improve cell phones, medical diagnostic equipment, and more.
- Wireless Power - Wires? We don’ need no steenkin’ wires!
- Atomic Magnetometers - Tiny magnetic-field sensors will advance the capabilities of MRIs.
- Offline Web Applications - Computer applications need to take advantage of both the browser and the desktop.
- Graphene Transistors - A new form of carbon could help us build faster and more compact processors.
- Connectomics - The circuitry of the brain is enormously complicated. But as we untangle it, we’ll learn more about brain development and disease.
- Reality Mining - Sort through the data gathered by cellphones, and you can learn a lot about how humans behave and how they interact with each other.
- Cellulolytic Enzymes - Biofuels from food? That’s just nuts. Biofuels from cellulose? Now you’re talking.
(Image: Wikimedia Commons)
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Edward Willett @ 19-02-2008
Every year, Technology Review lists the 10 technologies the magazine’s editors “find most exciting—and most likely to alter industries, fields of research, and even the way we live.” (Via Kurzweil AI.)
Here’s 2007’s Top-10 list:
- Peering into Video’s Future - With the Internet being swamped by digital video, peer-to-peer networks may be the answer.
- Nanocharging Solar - Cheap photovoltaics through quantum-dot solar power.
- Invisible Revolution - The magic of metamaterials.
- Personalized Medical Monitors - Computer-automated diagnostics for individuals.
- Single-Cell Analysis - Analyzing differences between individual cells could make for better medical tests and treatments.
- A New Focus for Light - New optical antennas that focus light could bring us DVDs that hold hundreds of movies.
- Neuron Control - A genetically engineered switch lets scientists turn selected parts of the brain on and off–which could lead to new treatments for depression and other disorders.
- Nanohealing - Stopping bleeding, aiding recovery from brain injury–nanofibers hold life-saving promise.
- Digital Imaging, Reimagined - “Compressive sensing” could help make the capture of digital images more efficient.
- Augmented Reality - Digital information, superimposed on the real world. (And you thought people listening to iPods all the time were annoying… )
(Image: Wikimedia Commons.)
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As Brian Wang pointed out in the comments to my post about the Technology Review list of 2007’s most exciting technologies, there’s actually a 2008 list. And indeed there is, and here it is:
