Over the past 150 years, humans have advanced technologically at an increasingly rapid pace – we’ve gone from horses to cars; cars to planes; and planes to spacecraft. Nowadays, people (at least in the developed world) drive cars more often than not; there are flights across the globe on a daily basis; there are even flights to outer space for the public! The crazy part? This is just the beginning. The Matador Network highlights some of the amazing things that will be accessible to us in the next 10 years:
Image courtesy of Walk Again Project
The Walk Again Project (2012): The Walk Again Project is a breakthrough in the field of neuroscience; scientists have constructed mechanical limbs that actually respond to human thoughts and the corresponding firing of neural synapses. The long and short of this project is that people who may have been paralyzed can walk again!
Image courtesy of Solar Impulse Project
Solar Powered Flight (2014): Over the past few years, there has been a lot of hubbub over hybrid cars, electric powered cars, and fuel economy in general. However, the Solar Impulse plane will take that to an entirely different level. The Solar Impulse is an entirely solar powered plane – one that currently has the goal of making a flight around the world. The Solar Impulse has already had a flight lasting over 26 hours, and hopes to make the round trip in 2014.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Carbon Emission Free City (2015): Sticking with the theme of environmental sustainability, did you know that we’re a few short years away from having cities that produce zero carbon emissions? The city of Masdar, slated to be built just outside the emirate of Abu Dhabi, will be run solely on solar power and other renewable resources, and will house 50,000 people to begin with.
Personal Surgical Laser Pens (2017): Ever gone hiking and cut yourself on something sticking out? Usually not a big deal, right? It generally isn’t; sometimes, however, people do suffer severe injuries with no one around to help them. That is where surgical laser pens come in – the heat generated from laser light (I’ll spare you the science) has been proven to be able to meld skin back together, meaning you could fix yourself up on the fly, no stitchwork required!
Image courtesy of How Stuff Works
Fusion Reactors (2019): For years, nuclear fusion has been hailed as the pinnacle of energy production – the smashing and fusion of atoms produces enormous amounts of energy, with absolutely no other emissions. However, there have always been setbacks that have prevented the realization of the potential of fusion reactors; at one point we couldn’t reach the temperatures needed for atoms to undergo fusion reactions, at other times the issue was the containment of plasma during the reaction. The French, however are working out these issues, and hope to have a functioning fusion reactor by 2019.
Image courtesy of Paultan Automotive
Crash Proof Cars (2020): Vehicular accidents have caused innumerable deaths over the years, so when Volvo says that they are developing systems to prevent collisions through radar, sonar, and driver alert systems, I find myself excited. This is obviously still a while away, but it is definitely somthing to look forward to.
There are many other things to look forward to, too. If you want to see the full list, head over to the article on the Matador Network and check the rest of the things out!