The future is absolutely insane. And I can prove it to you, in three bullet points or less:
- Storing data in DNA: In case you haven’t heard, scientists have been working on
storing data in the DNA of bacteria and other organisms for the past several years, because of its potential for extremely high capacity and power efficient storage. Last year, researchers at Harvard broke the record, maxing out at 700 terabytes per one gram of DNA. To put that in perspective, in a single drop of DNA, these scientists can store the same amount of data as 233 3 TB hard drives. Not bad, nerds. Not bad.
- Printable electronics and body parts: Science has taken 3D printing to a whole new level. It’s now possible to print electronic devices on paper or film, using semiconducting organic polymeric “inks,” enabling simple, low cost, low energy fabrication of electronics. But even that seems mundane when compared with a device a company called Organovo has already commercialized, which is able to print replicas of bodily organs, made of actual living tissue. Take a moment to let your imagination explore what possibilities this will unlock for healthcare.
- Memristors, Moore’s Law and robot brains: Moore’s Law states that about
every two years, the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles. If this pattern continues, physical limitations would put technological growth at a halt in the next ten years. Cue the memristor, a super-small, super-powerful, transistor-less technology that will keep technology growing rapidly into the future. See the nitty-gritty details and possible future applications, including creating a working model of…THE HUMAN BRAIN!
And since no blog post about the future of technology would be complete without proof of a Hollywood sci-fi plot about a dystopian future coming true:
Ever seen Surrogates? Meet Telesar V, a life-like humanoid robot you control with your own bodily movements. The control system allows you to remotely see what it sees, hear what it hears and even feel what it touches.
All this scary future talk is making me uncomfortable. I’m gonna go watch cartoons. ‘Til next time!
Dustin Jenkins writes about IT solutions for Dell.
