Future technology: 22 ideas about to change our world

Technology is rapidly improving, offering new innovations and revolutionary projects every year. Some of the very sharpest minds are creating the next piece of future technology that will completely change how we live our lives. These emerging technologies will change the way we live, how we look after our bodies and help us avert a climate disaster.

Clothes that can hear

Researchers at MIT have created a fabric that is able to detect a heartbeat, handclaps or even very faint sounds.

The team suggested that this could be used wearable tech for the blind, used in buildings to detect cracks or strains, or woven into fishnets to detect the sound of fish.

3D printed bones

Ossiform specialises in medical 3D printing, creating patient-specific replacements of different bones from tricalcium phosphate

The body will remodel the implants into vascularized bone which means they will enable the full restoration of function that the bone it is replacing had

Realistic holographs

Holograms have been filling science fiction books, films, and culture for years

However, it remains a difficult thing to achieve, especially on a large scale.
Holobricks could solve this issue by tiling together multiple holograms to produce a large, seamless 3D image
Currently, the issue with holograms is the amount of data required to make them
A regular HD display for a 2D image takes about 3GB per second to generate, but a hologram of a similar size and resolution would require 3TB per second

Sweat powered smartwatches

Researchers at the University of Glasgow have developed a new type of flexible supercapacitor, which stores energy, replacing the electrolytes found in conventional batteries with sweat

The device works by coating polyester cellulose cloth in a thin layer of a polymer, which acts as the supercap capacitor’s electrode.
As the cloth absorbs its wearer’s sweat, the positive and negative ions in the sweat interact with the polymer’s surface, creating an electrochemical reaction which generates energy.

Energy storing bricks

Researchers developed a method to convert red bricks into a type of energy storage device called a supercapacitor.

The method involved putting a conducting coating, known as Pedot, onto brick samples, which then seeped through the fired bricks’ porous structure, converting them into “energy storing electrodes”.

Lab-made dairy products

The dairy industry is not environmentally friendly, not even close.

It’s responsible for 4 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions, more than air travel and shipping combined
Demand is growing for a greener splash to pour into our tea cups and cereal bowls.

Drown forest fires in sound

Since sound is made up of pressure waves, it can be used to disrupt the air surrounding a fire, cutting off the supply of oxygen to the fuel.

At the right frequency, the fire simply dies out, as researchers at George Mason University demonstrated with their sonic extinguisher.

Hydrogen planes

A £15 million UK project has unveiled plans for a hydrogen-powered plane

The project has come up with a concept for a mid-size plane powered completely by liquid hydrogen which could have the capacity to fly roughly 279 passengers halfway around the world without stopping.

Brain reading robots

Thanks to a machine-learning algorithm, a robot arm and a brain-computer interface, researchers have managed to create a means for tetraplegic patients to interact with the world.

In tests, the robot arm would perform simple tasks like moving around an obstacle. The algorithm would then interpret signals from the brain using an EEG cap and automatically determine when the arm had made a move the brain considered incorrect.

Artificial neurons on silicon chips

Scientists have found a way to attach artificial neurons onto silicon chips, mimicking the neurons in our nervous system and copying their electrical properties.

The researchers hope their work could be used in medical implants to treat conditions such as heart failure and Alzheimer’s as it requires so little power.

AI image-generation

OpenAI has created a software that is able to create images from just worded prompts.

In the future, we could see this technology used to create art exhibitions, for companies to get quick, original illustrations or to revolutionize the way we create memes on the internet.

Self-healing ‘living concrete’

Scientists have developed what they call living concrete by using sand, gel and bacteria

Internet for everyone

Only around half the world is connected to the internet, and many people don’t have access to it due to economic and social reasons

Google is working on sending balloons to beam the internet to inaccessible areas
Hiber is taking a different approach by launching their own network of microsatellites into low Earth orbit
The satellites orbit the Earth 16 times a day and are already being used by organizations

Direct air capture

New technology could perform the same role as trees, absorbing carbon dioxide at greater levels while also taking up less land

Called Direct Air Capture (DAC), it involves taking carbon dioxide from the air and either storing the CO2 in deep geological caves under ground, or using it in combination with hydrogen to produce synthetic fuels

Green funerals

The average cremation reportedly releases 400kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, so what’s a greener way to go?

In Washington State in the US, you could be composted instead
Bodies are laid in chambers with bark, soil, straw and other compounds that promote natural decomposition
Within 30 days, your body is reduced to soil that can be returned to a garden or woodland

Floating farms

The UN predicts there will be two billion more people in the world by 2050, creating a demand for 70% more food

By that time, 80% of us will be living in cities, and most food we eat in urban areas is brought in
Farms moored on the sea or inland lakes close to cities would reduce food miles

Car batteries that charge in 10 minutes

If the batteries could heat to 60°C for just 10 minutes and then rapidly cool again to ambient temperatures, lithium spikes would not form and heat damage would be avoided

The battery design they have come up with is self-heating
A thin nickel foil creates an electrical circuit that heats in less than 30 seconds to warm the inside of the battery

Artificial eyes

Bionic eyes have been a mainstay of science fiction for decades

Now real-world research is beginning to catch up with far-sighted storytellers
A raft of technologies is coming to market that restore sight to people with different kinds of vision impairment

Airports for drones and flying taxis

First Urban Air Port receiving funding from the UK government

The hub will be a pilot scheme and hopefully a proof of concept for the company behind it
Powered completely off-grid by a hydrogen generator, the idea is to remove the need for delivery vans and personal cars on our roads

Living robots

Tiny hybrid robots made using stem cells from frog embryos could one day be used to swim around human bodies to specific areas requiring medicine, or to gather microplastic in the oceans

Digital “twins” that track your health

In Star Trek, Spock had his entire body digitally scanned for signs of illness and injury.

Doing this in real life could improve health outcomes and alleviate the load on doctors at the same time
Q Bio hopes to use the data to produce a 3D digital avatar of a patient’s body that can be tracked over time