20 LATEST TECHNOLOGY SEE IN FUTURE

20 LATEST TECHNOLOGY SEE IN FUTURE

 

Lists the 20 recent technological innovations that have the potential to change the planet and society. On the menu for 2020: virtual currency, anti-aging drugs or the advent of the quantum computer. Between climate disasters, cyber-attacks and emerging diseases, the world has never seemed so threatening. Fortunately, technological progress is making great strides, some of these technologies selected by the MIT Technology Review in its 2020 edition show. See you in a few years to verify these predictions.

 

The secure quantum internet

Ransomware, data theft, hacking of connected objects ... the Internet is under the threat of large-scale cyber-attacks. "An Internet based on quantum physics will soon make it possible to secure communications," predicts the MIT Technology Review. Researchers from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands are thus working on a quantum Internet infrastructure where communications are encoded in the form of qubits and entangled in photons circulating in optical fibers, so as to make them impossible to decrypt without disrupting the network. The technology should be operational within 5 to 6 years for long distances and a worldwide network is possible by the end of the decade, according to the researchers.

• For when? 5 years

 

Hyper-personalized medicine

"Genetic medicine designed for a single patient makes it possible to treat diseases that were once incurable," says MIT. In 2019, little Mila Makovec, suffering from a rare and fatal genetic brain disease, was offered a treatment tailored to restore the function of the faulty gene. The development of such personalized drugs is made possible by rapid advances in sequencing and gene editing. However, they require large resources (one year of development in the case of Mila) and the mobilization of specialized teams. The question of cost therefore risks limiting the generalization of such drugs.

• For when? Already in progress

 

Virtual currency

It was believed that virtual currencies had fallen into oblivion with the collapse of Bitcoin in 2019. But Facebook's announcement of its Libra universal currency project in June raised the hopes of its supporters. Despite the flood of criticism and serial disclaimers (Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and eBay have left ship without explanation), Libra has the capacity to become a nearly universal currency and independent of central banks thanks to the 2 billion Facebook users. Above all, it initiated a movement on the part of all the major players in finance. The People's Bank of China has announced the creation of its own cyber currency and the Banque de France has launched a call for projects for the first quarter of 2020 with a view to experimenting with a possible “digital euro”.

• For when? This year

 

Artificial intelligence to find new molecules

"It is estimated that there are 1,060 molecules that can give potential drugs, more than all the atoms in the solar system," announces MIT. This offers practically unlimited chemical possibilities”. In order to explore this ocean of molecules, researchers are relying on artificial intelligence (AI), which will sift through molecules and put them in relation to potential targets, such as a protein or a cell receptor. In July 2019, an Australian team designed an influenza vaccine with an adjuvant designed by an algorithm. And, in February 2020, the company Insilico Medecine managed to develop an anti-fibrosis drug in just 46 days thanks to its AI, where the development of a classic drug takes up to 10 years.

• For when? 3-5 years

 

Mega constellations of satellites

After 120 satellites launched last year, SpaceX plans to deploy up to 42,000 to create an Internet connection everywhere on the planet. The company is not the only one in the niche: OneWeb's constellation will include 600 satellites by 2022 and Amazon has announced that it wants to launch 3,236 satellites in low orbit to cover the white areas. All this thanks to the low cost of launching these nanosatellites which weigh only a few kilos. However, the deployment of so many objects in space poses problems in terms of interference with other satellite services such as weather, increasing the risk of collision and disrupting astronomical observation.

• For when? Right now

 

Quantum supremacy

The arrival of the quantum computer has been announced for more than 50 years. These machines, where the bits are replaced by qubits with superimposable states, are in theory much faster and more efficient, but hitherto suffered from decoherence problems. In October 2019, however, Google announced that it had achieved quantum supremacy (superiority of a quantum computer over a conventional computer on a particular task) by performing in three minutes a calculation that would require around 10,000 years on a conventional supercomputer. A figure disputed by IBM, which estimates that a classic computer program could have solved it in just 2.5 days. Nevertheless, we are witnessing the take-off of the quantum computer, with major players such as Microsoft, D-Wave, Atos or the CEA who have all joined the race.

• For when? 5-10 years

 

Miniature AI

The computing power needed to train artificial intelligence algorithms doubles every 3.4 months, according to a study by OpenAI. In addition, the supercomputers dedicated to these programs require enormous energy consumption. The digital giants are now working to miniaturize technology to make it accessible to the general public. Google Assistant and Siri thus integrate voice recognition systems on a smartphone chip. The AI ​​is also invited in digital cameras, capable of automatically retouching a photo by removing an annoying detail or improving the contrast for example. "Localized AI [rather than in the cloud] is better for privacy, since your data no longer needs to leave your device," says MIT.

• For when? Already now

 

Differential confidentiality

How to massively collect personal data without invading privacy? This is the whole challenge of the US Census Bureau, which will have to secure 330 million profiles for its 2020 census, so that it is impossible to identify each individual. To do this, it will inject “noise” into the database, in order to complicate any de-anonymization. This method called “differential confidentiality” is already used by Facebook and Apple to aggregate data without affecting the exact identity of people. This scrambling system is fundamental for many sectors using sensitive data, such as medical research.

• For when? Already now

 

Anti-aging drugs

Several treatments intended to slow down or reverse aging are currently in the trial phase. They block age-related cell senescence and reduce inflammation responsible for the accumulation of toxic substances or degenerative pathologies, such as Alzheimer's, cancer or cardiovascular disease. In June 2019, the American start-up Unity Biotechnology, for example, launched a test of drugs against arthritis of the knee. Biotech Alkahest, for its part, promises to curb cognitive loss by injecting young blood components and researchers are testing rapamycin, an immunosuppressant, as an anti-aging treatment.

• For when? 5 years
  

 

Carbon capture

To prevent global warming, 1,000 billion tons of carbon would have to be removed during the 21st century, according to UN experts. As recently as February 26, Australian researchers presented a method to capture and convert atmospheric CO2 into storable solid carbon. Bill Gates cites the startups Carbon Engineering (in which he has invested) and Climeworks, which transform atmospheric CO2 into biofuel or industrial gas. "It is still expensive and difficult but given our inability to reduce our emissions sufficiently, there is no other option", explains Bill Gates, fatalistic.

• For when? Within 5 to 10 years.
  

 

Predict premature births

Fifteen million babies are born prematurely each year, one million of whom will die from complications, according to a report from some 50 organizations and universities. "Tomorrow, a simple blood test will determine whether a woman risks a premature labor," says Bill Gates. Stephen Quake, a researcher at Stanford University, has thus developed a test that detects the expression of certain genes in circulating RNA (outside cells) associated with a risk of premature birth. Mothers at risk could thus be identified and taken care of.

• For when? Within 5 years.

 

Smart voice assistants

Amazon Alexa, Siri, Google Home ... Connected speakers have been massively adopted in the United States, but their capacities remain quite limited for the moment. The deeper understanding of human language combined with the improvement of synthetic voices will soon make it possible to have a real conversation with voice assistants, assures Bill Gates, who notably cites the example of Google Duplex, able to call to make an appointment. You in your place.

• For when? Within 1 to 2 years.

 

Taking climate change into account

Until now, even experts have been reluctant to attribute this or that climate catastrophe to global warming. This is starting to change, and we are now able to model the exact role of climate change. In particular, this should enable insurers to anticipate and distribute the costs of floods, storms or droughts. The Caisse centrale de réassurance (CCR) in partnership with Météo France has thus calculated that the cost of claims should double by 2050, with climate change accounting for 20% of this increase. Thanks to detailed satellite data, it is also able to model a tsunami or predict how much water will rise during a flood.

• For when? Already now

 

The new nuclear

Vilified by environmentalists, nuclear power is nevertheless an energy of the future, believes Bill Gates, who also supports several startups in this sector. But not “old school” nuclear power like that of EPRs: the billionaire is betting on small modular reactors (SMR), presenting much less financial and ecological risks, like those of NuScale. Research into nuclear fusion may also soon be successful, providing virtually unlimited zero-carbon energy.

• For when? Ten years.

 

Skillful robots

If today's robots are very good at performing repetitive tasks on an assembly line, they are not very agile at individually manipulating objects according to their shape or context as humans do. By combining visual recognition, deep learning algorithms and robotics, robots will, tomorrow, be able to do as well as them, hopes Bill Gates, who cites the example of Dactyl, a robotic "hand" developed by the OpenAI association.

• For when? Within 3 to 5 years.
  

 

The personalized cancer vaccine

With nearly 10 million deaths each year, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world after cardiovascular disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Among the hundreds of new therapeutic approaches, that of the German startup BioNTech caught the attention of Bill Gates. This young shoot detects mutations in cancer cells and uses patients' own immune systems to develop vaccines to target these mutations.

• For when? Under testing.

 

The endoscope pill

Haven't you heard of environmental enteropathy (EA)? This disease, which results in inflammation of the intestine and leads to malnutrition, causes retardation of growth and psychomotor development. Detectable only by endoscopy, it could however be better diagnosed thanks to an electronic pill to swallow which will inspect the intestine and perform biopsies. Developed by Guillermo Tearney, biologist and engineer at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, it can also be used to treat other pathologies, such as colon cancer.

• For when? First tests in 2019.

 

Meat without meat

In 2050, the planet will have 9.8 billion inhabitants who will consume 70% more meat than in 2005. However, the production of a kilogram of beef requires 70 times more surface, eight times more water and emits nine times more greenhouse gases than the production of one kilogram of soybeans. Cultivated in vitro with stem or plant-based cells, “fake” meat is therefore the subject of great ambitions on the part of startups such as Beyond Meat or Impossible Foods, in which Bill Gates has also invested.

• For when? Today for vegetable meat, 2020 for artificial meat.

 

Toilets without a sewer

Toilets in developing countries are one of Bill Gates' big hobbies. Some 2.3 billion people today still do not have access to clean sanitation, he recalls, which encourages people to defecate in the open and promotes the spread of disease. In 2011, the philanthropist launched the “Toilet Challenge” calling on innovators around the world to create low cost and autonomous toilets. Dozens of prototypes have already been presented.

• For when? Within 1 to 2 years.

 

ECG connected watches

Last May, Apple proudly announced that its smartwatch had saved the lives of two people by detecting an abnormally high heart rate. The latest version of the Apple Watch is indeed equipped with an electrocardiogram (ECG) function analyzing heart impulses. However, current devices with a single sensor cannot detect stroke in real time. This could soon change: the American manufacturer AliveCor presented at the last Congress of the American Association of Cardiology a device with two sensors supposed to detect certain types of attack.

• For when? Right now.