Top 10 Technologies by MIT Technology Review.
MIT Technology Review has made a selection based on those advancements that will truly change the way we live and work.
1. The Internet cannot be hacked
It is about applying the properties of quantum physics to transmit information over the Internet in an extremely secure way.
Scientists have managed to transmit pairs of photons through fiber optic cables in a way that fully protects the information encoded on them.
Delft University of Technology, where they build a network connecting four cities in the Netherlands using quantum technology. Messages sent through this network will be impossible to hack.
2. Hyper-personalized medicine
Genetic medicine tailored to a single patient offers hope to people whose ailments were not curable until now.
New genetic drugs can be used to replace genes, edit genes, or erase or repair faulty genetic messages. What these new treatments have in common is that they can be programmed, digitally and with digital speed, to correct or compensate for inherited diseases, gene by gene from DNA.
3. Digital money
The rise of digital currencies will have a massive impact on financial privacy.
The rise of "Libra", the cryptocurrency Facebook intends to launch, has made a huge difference. Almost all central banks are immersed in projects to launch their own digital currencies, the so-called CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency).
4. Anti-aging drugs
Medicines that try to treat ailments and diseases by fighting the natural aging process.
These drugs are called senolytics and what they do is selectively induce the death of senescent cells, which are those that have stopped dividing. They accumulate in the aging body and accelerate the aging process.
Human trials are currently underway to find out if diseases associated with aging, such as heart disorders, arthritis, cancer and dementia, could be stopped or delayed.
5. Molecules discovered by AI
Scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) to discover molecules that could be turned into drugs.
With Artificial Intelligence and specifically, with Machine Learning tools, large databases of existing molecules and their properties can be explored, using the information to discover new possibilities.
6. Mega constellations of satellites
The main application of these satellites is to provide broadband Internet to any type of device, from a telephone terminal to IoT devices.
Technological advances and scientific research are allowing the commercialization of space and the development of new industrial applications in orbit such as manufacturing and research or new communication and observation technologies.
7. Quantum supremacy
Quantum computers will be able to solve problems that no other machine is capable of solving today.
They could address certain classes of problems that even the most powerful classical supercomputer imaginable would take millennia to solve, such as breaking current cryptographic codes or simulating the precise behavior of molecules to help discover new drugs and materials.
8. Tiny AI
Our devices no longer need to communicate with the cloud for us to benefit from the latest Artificial Intelligence-based features.
It is possible to create new algorithms to reduce existing deep learning models without losing their capabilities. And also the new generation of specialized microprocessors that pack more computational power in very small physical spaces that allow training and executing Artificial Intelligence algorithms with much less energy.
9. Differential privacy
It is a mathematical technique to measure the level of privacy of a set of personal data.
When millions of personal data are handled, as is the case of Facebook, Amazon or the US Census Bureau, and you want to maintain the privacy of individuals, it is necessary to introduce "noise" in the data, so that we make sure that that crossing the available data, it is impossible to identify a specific individual.
Differential privacy makes this process rigorous by measuring how much privacy increases when that noise is added.
10. Climate change attribution
It is the field that will scientifically determine the mechanisms responsible for global warming and vice versa, which meteorological phenomena can be attributed to climate change.
The greater power of computers, as well as the new climate models supported by Artificial Intelligence tools and the greater amount of data that artificial satellites are capable of collecting, is allowing scientists to affirm that yes, global warming is producing meteorological phenomena more and more dangerous.
Many of these technologies are not yet directly integrated into our lives but we will soon be able to benefit from them in our daily lives.
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