10 Breakthrough Technologies 2017

These technologies all have staying power. They will affect the economy and our politics, improve medicine, or influence our culture. Some are unfolding now; others will take a decade or more to develop. But you should know about all of them right now.

1. Reversing Paralysis 
   Scientists are making remarkable progress at using brain implants to restore the freedom of movement that spinal cord injuries take away.
   
   
2. Self-Driving Trucks Tractor-trailers without a human at the wheel will soon barrel onto highways near you. What will this mean for the nation’s 1.7 million truck drivers?
   
   
3. Paying with Your Face
   Face-detecting systems in China now authorize payments, provide access to facilities, and track down criminals. Will other countries follow?
   
   
4. Practical Quantum Computing
   Advances at Google, Intel, and several research groups indicate that computers with previously unimaginable power are finally within reach.
   
    
5. The 360-Degree Selfie
   Inexpensive cameras that make spherical images are opening a new era in photography and changing the way people share stories.
   
    
6. Hot Solar Cells
   By converting heat to focused beams of light, a new solar device could create cheap and continuous power.
   
    
7. Gene Therapy 2.0
   Scientists have solved fundamental problems that were holding back cures for rare hereditary disorders. Next we’ll see if the same approach can take on cancer, heart disease, and other common illnesses.
   
   
8. The Cell Atlas
   Biology’s next mega-project will find out what we’re really made of.
   
   
9. Botnets of Things
   The relentless push to add connectivity to home gadgets is creating dangerous side effects that figure to get even worse.
   
   
10. Reinforcement Learning
    By experimenting, computers are figuring out how to do things that no programmer could teach them.
    
    

ORIGINAL: Technology Review

First ever pictures of single proteins thanks to graphene sheet

(Image credit: Jean-Nicolas Longchamp of the University of Zurich, Switzerland)

You’d think twice about snapping a selfie if the camera flash was bright enough to burn your skin off. Biologists face a similar problem when studying proteins under the microscope, as modern imaging techniques can destroy the molecules. Now graphene – the ultra-thin form of carbon – has come to the rescue, and delivered the very first pictures of a single protein.

Taking pictures of proteins lets us understand their structure and functions. This is important for treating diseases in which proteins go wrong, such as Alzheimer’s. But imaging methods such as X-ray crystallography or cryo-electron microscopy rely on averaging readings from millions of molecules, giving us a blurry view.

Averaging is needed because illuminating molecules with X-rays or high-energy electrons can damage the protein, meaning you may not get the full picture from a single image, and also because it’s tricky to keep a single molecule in one place long enough to take its picture. Now Jean-Nicolas Longchamp of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and his colleagues have come up with a way to do just that.

They start by spraying a solution of the proteins on to a sheet of graphene, fixing the proteins in place. Then they place this under an electron holographic microscope, which uses interference patterns between electrons to produce an image.

Handy slide

This kind of instrument relies on low-energy electrons that don’t damage the protein. The snag is that they are also less able to penetrate through to the microscope’s detector. This is where graphene comes in handy. “In optical microscopy you have a glass slide. For our electron microscopy we had to find a substrate thin enough to have the electrons passing through,” says Longchamp.

The team tested their method on a range of protein molecules, all just a few nanometres in size, such as the haemoglobin found in red blood cells. The results agreed well with molecular models derived from X-ray crystallography (see image below), suggesting the images are accurate.

(Image credit: Jean-Nicolas Longchamp of the University of Zurich, Switzerland)

Now they plan to snap pictures of other molecules that can’t be imaged with existing techniques, and hope eventually to contribute to new medical treatments. “There are some diseases which are related to the wrong structure of certain proteins,” says Longchamp. “In the future, we could image the difference in the structure of a healthy person and a person who has a disease.”

Reference: arxiv.org/abs/1512.08958

ORIGINAL: New Scientist

8 January 2016

BBC to give out one million 'Micro Bit' computers to get kids coding

It's the first year of a major new coding curriculum in the UK, and now the BBC wants to play its part in training the next generation of star programmers. The broadcaster is developing a spiritual successor to the BBC Micro, called the Micro Bit, which will give students a physical companion in their path to coding competence. It's going to be a small, standalone device with an LED display that children can carry around with them and plug into a computer to continue their work. The hardware will be basic, as the BBC calls it a "starting point" for "more complex" devices such as the Raspberry Pi and Kickstarter-funded Kano kits. The project is still in a prototype phase, but the BBC claims it'll be ready to give away one million of the new microcomputers to year 7 students this autumn.

The Micro Bit is just the tip of the BBC's new initiative, however. The organisation is developing classroom resources under its Bitesize and School Report brands, as well as a slate of events to inspire would-be coders. Under a new 'Make it Digital' campaign, the BBC is also pulling on some of its biggest TV shows, including Doctor Who, EastEnders and The One Show, to create new programming that will promote technology-fuelled creativity. BBC Three will be launching a talent show called 'Girls Can Code' and there will even be a drama about the making of Grand Theft Auto. Yes, you read that correctly. Grand Theft Auto. While some of this content will be available straight away, the BBC says it's working towards a "big audience moment" in September, when the kids go back to school.

The BBC has teamed up with a ton of companies to make all of this happen, including Google, Microsoft and Samsung, as well as Code Club, the British Computing Society and Tech City UK. At a time when the licence fee is being scrutinised yet again, such an ambitious project is a timely reminder of the BBC's public service contributions.

SOURCE: BBC

ORIGINAL: Engadget

by Nick Summers 

MEMS Mirrors Show Promise in Perceptual Computing

While traditional forms of device input—keyboards and mice—remain commonplace, perceptual computing enables “computers to work around us, rather than us continuing to work around them” by understanding our intentions in a more natural way (see “Interview: Barry Solomon Discusses Intel's Perceptual Computing SDK”). Now, the adoption of tiny microelectro-mechanical system (MEMS) mirrors could further developments in human-computer interaction. The mirrors use the same electrostatic principle that causes our hair to stand on end to sense motion.

Related

• Q&A: MEMS Industry Group Takes On the IoT
• Project Paves a Path Toward Optical-System Miniaturization
• Sensors Drive Mobile IoT

The micro-mirrors, provided by STMicrolectronics as part of the perceptual computing initiatives at Intel, move thousands of times per second to scan infrared light beams, painting an invisible grid on objects in front of it. The light is then reflected back from the object and captured and analyzed for 3D imaging and gesture applications.

MEMs technology fosters smaller, more robust systems for a variety of consumer devices, ultimately delivering more immersive experiences. It also has the ability to sense other environmental factors and actuate or move liquids, further integrating devices.

Previously, STMicroelectronics helped develop an extremely thin projection engine that fits into the screen of a laptop or tablet computer. It offers an ultra-wide field of view of almost 90°.

ORIGINAL: Electronic Design

Iliza Sokol Electronic Design 

Mar 4, 2015