Emerging Technologies 2009 (1)
I am currently reviewing last month’s issue of MIT’s Technology Review which showcases “10 Emerging Technologies.” The editors define emerging technologies as innovations which involve a paradigm shift and have a potential to change lives in years ahead. Here is the list, which I sorted out into three broad categories:
MEDICAL APPLICATIONS:
- $100 Genome – this innovation is positioned as key to personalized medicine: inexpensive sequencing technology able to deliver an entire human genome in about eight hours; this means that medical treatment would account for the patient’s distinct genetic profile, thus assisting the medical profession with diagnosis, prognosis and drugs.
- Paper Diagnostic Tests – squares of paper the size of postage stamps that can dipped into a urine or blood sample, so that depending on the chemicals happen to be present present, the paper changes colors to help diagnose a range of diseases quickly and cheaply; the production cost being estimated in the order of cents per unit.
- Nanopiezotronics - think nanoscale sensors that can be safely implanted as part medical treatments such as bone loss monitoring your joints or as part of wearable devices and your clothing’s fabric and hearing aids, just to name some examples.
COMPUTING:
- Racetrack Memory – nanowires are used to enable ultradense and rugged memory chips; the intent is to deliver three dimensional memory by implementing U shaped nanowires which are arranged in vertical position; as result, they can handle x100 times as much data while keeping production costs at competitive levels, which is key to future compact compact computing devices.
- HashCache - storing web content to make Internet access more affordable in the developing world based on a highly efficient method of caching frequently accessed web content on a local hard drive; this is being field tested in Ghana where a classroom equipped with commodity and even older PCs could store and cheaply access one terabyte of web data, which could handle today’s wikipedia; the technology will be licensed for free to nonprofits.
- Software Defined Networking – OpenFlow allows researchers to define data flows using software and set rules that tell switches and routers how to direct network traffic; this means remote control of network hardware that the researchers claim can help improve cellular networks to best handle network traffic when a user is moving.
- Intelligent Software Assistant – improving the way we search by deploying an engine that can complete tasks rather than just collecting and displaying lines of search results; an initial version is aimed at mobile users who can speak commands in casual language; this project takes advantage of trends such as the growing computing power of mobile phones and increasing speed of mobile networks.
- Biological Machines – think of cyborg devices such as remote controlled living bugs carrying miniaturized sensors and microelectrical mechanical systems (MEMs); the researchers’ goal is to create “biological machines” and sensor networks having already worked with controlled beetles.
ENERGY:
- Traveling Wave Reactor – making nuclear power safer and less expensive with reactors that require only a small mount of enriched fuel and leveraging liquid sodium as a coolant.
- Liquid Battery – storing solar power in batteries which would cost a third of today’s best models. The goal is to absorb large amounts of electricity at an affordable cost by using materials that allow for simple manufacturing.
You can access the above and other MIT Technology Review videos by clicking on this link.
J. de Francisco blogging from Chicago on May 11
