Homo Futura #1
Every month, Homo Futura gathers 10 articles from around the web that give you a glimpse of what the future of technology will look like. By doing this, we hope to excite and educate our readers about the great societal, environmental and commercial impact of innovation. Explore the articles below and discover what technologies will shape the world of tomorrow.
The Segway’s Inventor Has a New Project: Manufacturing Human Organs
Dean Kamen, the 69-year-old inventor who has launched numerous successful inventions since high school, is now working on one of his most ambitious projects yet: manufacturing human organs. His initiative, the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), includes about 170 companies, research institutions, and organizations from across the United States working on making the mass-production of biological parts a reality. Kamen states: “Within 10 years it will be as common as a lot of standard medical procedures to have a defective organ or piece of an organ replaced.”
Virgin Galactic Unveils Sleek Spaceship Cabin for Tourist Flights
Virgin Galactic, the company with the vision to make space tourism a reality, has unveiled the cabin interior of its SpaceShipTwo shuttle. The company is planning to launch shuttles of passengers into space by the year 2023, each ticket costing about $250,000. If you had the money, would you dare to be one of the first to experience commercial space travel?
How Afrofuturism Can Help the World Mend
The position of Black people in society has been a much-discussed topic in the past few months. Afrofuturism is a school of thought that can help imagine a pathway for Black futures. It involves imaginations or analyses of how technology intersects with Black politics or aesthetics and emphasizes Black people’s longstanding, innovative, and critical engagement with science and technology. Can the Afrofuturists rescue the Afropessimists from their despair?
Catalyst Could Help Turn Seawater Into Fuel for Navy Ships
Most navy ships rely on fuel-powered engines that need to be replenished by tanker ships every once in a while, which is a costly and polluting operation. Now researchers have found a way that could turn seawater into fuel on an industrial scale. This means that ships could remain in continuous operation, using the water they travel through to power themselves.
Inside the Race to Build the Best Quantum Computer on Earth
The most powerful companies in the world are working on the future of computing: quantum. Using its Sycamore chip, Google had become the first to demonstrate “quantum supremacy” last October by completing a calculation that would’ve taken world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years — in just a few minutes. It seems like we’re at the forefront of a new era of machines: what more is to come from this exciting, ground-breaking industry?
The Case Against Perfection
The evolving possibilities of genetic engineering present us with God-like abilities, like being able to choose certain properties of our children. However, this may be a case in which science moves faster than moral understanding. In the article ‘The Case Against Perfection’ from 2004, Michael J. Sandel expresses his concerns about the impact of genetic engineering on the human race. Although technology in this field has massively progressed since the publication of this article, many concepts that are discussed are still of great relevance today.
Delivery Drones Could Hitchhike on Public Transit to Massively Expand Their Range
Drone delivery is a promising development in the world of e-commerce. However, some question the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of flying packages around urban areas. In a new study, Stanford researchers say we could rely on public buses to serve as base stations for the drones, dramatically increasing their efficiency. The researchers have modeled a San Francisco-based system that is able to schedule drones in such a way that hopping around on the bus system allows them to make deliveries anywhere in under an hour.
Genetic Engineers Are Working on Making an Invisible Man
Who needs an invisibility cloak when scientists are working on transparent human cells? Researchers at UC Irvine were inspired by squid-like marine animals that are able to change both the color and transparency of their skin. By genetically engineering human cells to produce the ‘squid protein’ reflectin, they have set the first step to developing cells that could alter their transparancy levels, making the goal of being invisible a tiny bit closer.
Nuclear ‘Power Balls’ May Make Meltdowns a Thing of the Past
The great potential of nuclear power plants has one downside: it is prone to disaster. A meltdown, like the one in Fukushima a small decade ago, has irreversible and disastrous effects for the people and the environment. But now a new generation of nuclear reactors is gaining ground, which aim to not only be smaller and more efficient, but even virtually meltdown-proof. So called triso fuel is the secret to this promising development.
As Risks of Space Wars Grow, Policies to Curb Them Lag
As more and more countries are experimenting with military systems in space, questions are raised what risks this might bring along. If earthly conflicts are lifted to new heights, all space activity (scientific, commercial and military) may be put at risk. How do we regulate these kinds of developments on a global level to prevent a war in space?
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