News from the future – January 7th, 2019
7 January 2019 | Written by La redazione
The most important news about technology and the future, selected every week by Impactscool team.
A device that can read the impulses of the brain
Wand is the device developed by a team of researchers, thanks to the foundation of Mark Zuckerberg, with the ambitious goal of identifying therapies to deal with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s. The device, created by the University of Berkeley and the startup Cortera, is able to read the electrical impulses of the brain related to the movements and correct them in real time. As described in a scientific paper published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, Wand has been successfully tested on lab monkeys.
An AI that creates perfect portraits of non-existent people
Researchers at Nvidia are developing an artificial intelligence system that can make perfect portraits of people who do not actually exist. The technology developed by Nvidia makes it possible to create an extremely realistic human face from scratch, created by mixing characteristics and expressions of real people. A project, this, which underlines the growth of these artificial intelligence systems but which, on the other, raises numerous questions of an ethical nature.
Will the hotel of the future be on four wheels?
Aprilli, a Toronto-based design firm, devised a futuristic solution that could transform our hotel idea. The concept of “Autonomous Travel Suite” combines the comfort of a hotel room with new autonomous driving technologies. The concept is very similar to a luxurious Uber – inside the pod you can sleep, work and eat while traveling. A futuristic and ambitious project that could revolutionize both the concept of cars and of hotels.
The first vaccine-carrying drone arrives in the Pacific
At the end of December, a new service was launched in Vanuatu, a small state in the South Pacific Ocean, to improve vaccination coverage. The distribution of the vaccines, in fact, is carried out through some drones, solving in fact the problem of long and expensive displacements among the 83 volcanic islands that make up the country. To date, according to Unicef estimates, only 20 percent of the 35,000 children under the age of 5 living in Vanuatu are vaccinated. The drone delivery service provided by the Australian startup Swoop Aero could represent an important turning point.
The Chang’e-4 probe on the dark side of the moon
On January 3rd the Chinese probe Chang’e-4 reached a historical result for space exploration: it landed on the hidden side of the Moon, the one not visible from the Earth. Nobody, until today, had succeeded in this venture. China, after achieving this goal, is increasingly in the running for a leading role in space exploration in the near future.
Virtual reality could soon arrive on Flixbus vehicles
Flixbus, the low-cost bus company, may soon have virtual reality available for their passengers. After conducting tests with positive results in Spain and France, the company announced its intention to introduce the service also in the United States. The viewer, on which will be available some games and virtual tourist experiences, will be free for passengers who book a scenic spot, while other passengers will have to pay for it. The introduction of the viewers will start with quiet and slightly windy roads to avoid nausea and other side effects.
