Here are the 11 things you can expect to see in the future!
11 - Sonic fire extinguishing Two engineering students from George Mason
University in Virginia developed an unusual fire extinguisher – a sonic one.
When compared to the chemical compound of classic fire extinguishers, their invention
offers the cleanest way to put out flames.
Their secret lies in the bass sounds.
Some of you who go to clubs with loud music are probably familiar with experiencing music
not only with your ears but with your bodies as well.
You know how your chest is thumping when the music is loud, right?
That’s basically how this innovation works!
However, there’s a little bit of difference; the portable gadget they’ve designed focuses
the sound waves in a specific direction instead of spreading them.
Sound waves have the ability to manipulate both oxygen and burning material.
If these two get separated, the fire dies away.
In other words, a sound wave is a type of pressure wave.
Pressure wave will remove oxygen from air molecules, effectively putting out the flame.
Hey, maybe one day it won’t be fire trucks anymore, but giant speakers?!
10 - 3D printed homes In January 2018, the Dutch city of Eindhoven
became the first in the world to have habitable homes made by a 3D printer, an innovation
that’s believed by many experts that will revolutionize the construction industry in
the future.
The 3D printer that was used is essentially a giant robotic arm with a nozzle that squirts
out a specially formulated cement, apparently with the texture of whipped cream.
Is that whetting anyone’s appetite for is that just us?
The cement is “printed” according to the architect’s design, as the nozzle adds layer
upon layer to create a wall and increase its strength.
The use of 3D printing additionally opens up the possibility of placing wireless sensors
directly into the walls to allow a home to be fully “smart”.
The method will cut costs and environmental damage by reducing the amount of cement that
is used.
Another perk of 3D printing is that people will be able to construct homes to suit their
own tastes just with the help of robots!
Of course, that’s a bit down the line.
9 - Laser healing A new technology using lasers could replace
the need for painful needlework or staples, while also reducing scarring associated with
healing.
Researchers have developed lasers that can bind tissues together and speed up healing.
The technique uses a sticky medical dye that bonds the collagen molecules in the skin back
together when it’s exposed to green laser.
Most lasers can barely penetrate through the upper layers of skin, meaning it has a limited
effect on bonding tissue together.
To tackle the problem, the team developed optical fiber inserts that go in the wound.
That way, the laser can be delivered deep inside the injury to 'stick it' together.
Later on, the fiber inserts can be clipped off while still inserted in the wound as,
it can be fully absorbed by the body.
Tests showed the method could bond a wound in pigskin together in around 15 minutes.
The scientists behind the technology say it could be used following surgery and that it
could be particularly useful for repairing internal injuries!
8 - Space tourism Taking a trip to outer space right now may
sound like something out of a movie for most of us, but one day soon, space will be a viable
vacation destination.
A few different companies are pioneering space tourism.
The most well-known is probably Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which has been talking about
taking civilians to space for years.
SpaceX, started by Elon Musk, has vowed to take two tourists on a trip around the moon.
Then there’s Blue Origin, founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
In June of 2018, Blue Origin said they’re expecting to start selling tickets to space
as early as 2019.
Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and Blue Origin are all private companies, set up with the sole
purpose of taking paying members of the public into space.
As you can imagine, it’s not going to be cheap for the early adopters.
For example, Virgin Galactic requires an up-front deposit of over $250,000 for a ‘seat to
space’ and ‘membership of the Future Astronaut community’.
Of course, there’s hope that the price will come down over time, as technology becomes
more advanced.
7 - Weather control It’s unlikely that we’ll be able to completely
control the weather by the end of the century, but we should be able to seriously influence
it!
We’re already seeding clouds with particles to stimulate precipitation, and California
has been doing this for nearly 50 years.
During the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chinese authorities fired 1,100 rockets into
the clouds to trigger downpours before the storms reached the capital city.
There are even efforts to fire laser pulses into thunderclouds in hopes of drawing out
lightning in a controlled manner.
More interestingly, we could theoretically eventually build a weather machine to create
a programmable atmosphere.
One plan calls for a thin global cloud of small transparent balloons lifted up into
the stratosphere, where it would shade or reflect the amount of incoming sunlight!
A mirror would be placed inside each balloon, along with a GPS to monitor its location,
an actuator to control its orientation, and a small computer.
Lifted by hydrogen, the balloons would come to rest about 20 miles above the Earth’s
surface.
When the millions of mirrors face away from the Earth, they would reflect the sunlight
back into space.
This AI guided system would theoretically influence weather patterns around the world,
and turn marginally habitable areas into temperate regions.
Maybe it could work, maybe not, what do you guys think?!
6 - Genetic engineering Genetic engineering, sometimes called genetic
modification, is the process of altering the DNA in an organism’s genome.
This may mean changing a base pair, deleting a whole region of DNA, or introducing an additional
copy of a gene.
It can also mean extracting DNA from another organism’s genome and combining it with
the DNA of that individual.
So far, bioengineering has already allowed human beings to take control of their own
evolution.
We’re quickly approaching a world where we can do much more, whether that’s a good
thing or not!
In August 2017, scientists made a major breakthrough in gene editing technology.
In short, researchers were able to tinker with embryos in order to repair DNA and help
fend off disease-causing mutations.
And this is likely just the beginning of what’s possible.
Genetic engineering means humans will be able to remove diseases from DNA but also, tinker
with traits we’re currently unable to control, such as the color of the eyes or a person’s
intelligence.
Is this actually gonna be a good thing or a bad thing?!
5 - Geoengineering To prevent the possible environmental problems
brought by climate change, we’ll have to start geoengineering the planet.
Some notable geohacking proposals include cirrus cloud seeding to reduce reflectivity
just like we talked about earlier, stratospheric particle injection for solar radiation management,
sulfur-aerosol injection to induce global dimming, and simple solutions such as tropical
reforestation to restore the carbon balance!
Other ideas include ocean fertilization to spawn carbon-sucking algal blooms, and ocean
alkalinity enhancement to make the ocean less acidic.
Where the small problem with geoengineering is that we could royally wreck our planet
if something goes wrong, and we may become dependent upon it.
But desperate times require desperate measures, and one day we may have little choice but
to try and make the planet as hospitable to us as possible!
4 - Shorter work week According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the average American works 44 hours per week, or 8.8 hours per day.
When it comes to vacation, a survey found that 54 percent of more than 7,000 American
employees ended 2016 with unused vacation time.
While hard work is certainly the key to success, billionaire Richard Branson maintains that
there’s value in taking time away from the office to unplug and decompress.
In 2018, the entrepreneur explained why a three or four-day workweek can actually be
beneficial to the future workforce.
Branson says one way to achieve this shorter workweek is to look at how technology and
innovations can actually improve the workforce by positively impacting our workload.
At his own companies, Branson explains how they've embraced a flexible work schedule
where people have options on how, when, and where they work.
He says with the progression of technology, this type of flexibility will also become
more of a common practice in the future.
Instead of being at the office just to be at the office, people can be much more efficient
with their time at the office being at home more often.
3 - Solar farms
In 2018, the future of solar farming is bright indeed.
With recent pledges to big reductions in carbon dioxide emissions by many countries, it seems
that solar energy is the future.
As a matter of fact, by the year 2050, the sun could be the largest source of energy
as countries work together in preventing the release of billions of tons of carbon dioxide
emissions.
It’s believed that there will be two main sources of solar energy: solar panels on private
buildings such as residences and businesses, and solar farms creating energy at the utility
level.
However, just because there’s a commitment to getting stuff done, that doesn’t mean
there can’t be any fun to be had!
In a display of China's commitment to using renewable energy, the country just finished
building a 250-acre solar farm in the shape of a panda.
This is just the first of a 100 panda-shaped solar plants planned to be built across China
and Asia in the coming years.
The effort is partially a PR campaign as China continues to lead the world in renewable energy
investment.
Did you guys know THAT nifty little fact?!
2 - Human life expectancy For thousands of years, humans have had relatively
short lives.
As recently as 1900, most people didn’t live past 50!
But during the 20th century, that began to change.
Medical advances, including vaccines, improvements in diet, and the cleanliness of drinking water,
led to healthier lives.
By 2012, the average global life expectancy had reached 70 years.
What can we expect in the future?
Well, according to some studies, young people alive today could live up to 150!
It’s thought that new medical technology and drugs combined with lifestyle changes
could see young people living a lot longer.
Wearable medical devices will also become more and more common.
Those devices would analyze data in in real time and present insights in an attempt to
motivate individuals to take better control of their health!
1 - Multifunctional skyscrapers What’s happening to a city’s skyline is
often how people can tell which cities are booming.
It's no wonder having a skyscraper immediately makes a city look more like a city.
Just look at Shanghai.
Since the late 1980s, the city's financial district has steadily grown from an unremarkable
cluster of buildings into a forest of skyscrapers.
In a little more than 25 years, an influx of investors and people moving into the city
transformed it from a city of the past into a city of the future.
However, the goal of building taller skyscrapers has changed.
Designing the skyscraper of the future isn't so much about just building a super tall building,
but it’s about making the space more efficient than ever.
Experts predict that there will be multifunctional skyscrapers looming over the horizon in Shanghai.
The next skyscrapers may not look like skyscrapers at all—they'll be vertical cities, taking
whatever form necessary to best provide for their occupants.
The buildings will have floors for offices, shops, entertainment centers, educational
centers, residential areas, and even manufacturing.
This would allow people to live full lives without ever needing to leave the building!
Here’s what’s next!