Technology helps the world advance. As humans it's in our
nature to investigate, innovate and solve problems. This curiosity
means we make things, create things and develop new technologies. You
can look back thousands of years for basic examples of technology pushing
civilization forward.
Most people don't
understand the rapid change technology has on their life... or the speed at
which change occurs.
For example, the
following are the five 'Great Ages' of human progress and their approximate
duration:
- Stone Age — 3.4 million years
- Bronze Age — 2,500 years
- Iron Age — 500 years
- Industrial Revolution — 80 years
- Information Revolution — 20 years
You'll notice the
length of each 'age' diminishes as technology improves. The computer
industry calls this trend 'Moore's
Law'. It dictates that computer processing power doubles every 18
months.
200 times
stronger than steel...
150,000 times
thinner than a human hair...
More flexible
than a sheet of paper
You may have heard
about Graphene. If
you haven't, it's a newly discovered, very special refined form of
graphite. It's a one-atom-thick sheet of densely packed carbon atoms
arranged in a honeycomb lattice.
Put simply, it's a
sheet of carbon atoms 150,000 times thinner than a human hair. Under a
powerful microscope, it looks like chicken wire. But what's so special
about it?
Everything
For starters, it's 200
times stronger than structural steel; it's so strong you could suspend an
elephant from a single strand of Graphene, and the strand would not break.
It's extremely
lightweight. Soon, everything from bicycles and boats to airplanes and cars
could be made out of graphene composites. And when they are, their energy efficiency and durability could
skyrocket.
But, that's just the
beginning of what this new 'smart material' can do. Not only is it the
strongest material researchers have ever tested, it's also one of the best
conductors man has ever found. IBM has already created a graphene-based
processor capable of executing 100 billion cycles per second.
Researchers believe that in the future, a graphene credit card could store as
much information as today's computers.
This one material alone
could prove more
revolutionary
than — and soon
REPLACE —
plastic, Kevlar and the silicon chip
In fact, it's such a
breakthrough that the first two scientists to successfully produce
single-atom-thick crystals of graphene were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in
Physics.
In just two years, over
200 companies from a wide array of industries have researched the magical
potential of graphene:
- Scientists
in the US and China are already using tiny graphene-based probes to
target and identify tumors in live mice. They hope similar
graphene-based particles could shuttle cancer drugs to tumors, or even
kill tumor cells directly.
- Engineers
at Northwest University, Seattle, found that specially crafted graphene
electrodes could allow a lithium-ion battery, like those found in your
smartphone or Toyota Prius, to charge
10 times faster and hold 10 times more power.
- And
in 2011, chemists at Rice University, Houston, created graphene-based thin films,
unlocking the secret to incredibly flexible, super-durable touch screens
and solar cells that can wrap around just about anything.
Kiss
goodbye to shattered screens
Samsung has already
said its flexible displays should enter full-scale production later this
year, and it expects to have a dozen more graphene based products on the
market within the next five.
IBM, Nokia and Apple
are hot on their heels too.
Touch screens,
processor chips, casings, and batteries (in everything from PCs and HD TVs to
tablets), mobile phones and hybrids could all be made with graphene.
It could change entire
industries, economies, and our lives.
Imagine HD TVs as thin as wallpaper, Smart phones so
skinny and flexible you can roll them up and put them behind your ear, and so durable you can beat them with a hammer!
Imagine if you could
eliminate breast cancer or prostate tumors with a simple injection or by
swallowing a graphene-charged pill.
Imagine if your house
were strong enough to withstand a bush fire, and your windows processed
enough solar energy to heat your home in winter and cool it in the summer. Or
if your car were 6 times lighter and 20 times stronger.
The effects would be
staggering!
Fuel-efficiency would
shoot through the roof.
People would live
longer, healthier lives.
Cars and airplanes
would be lighter, faster and safer than ever before.
And electronics of
every type would be launched into an era of unprecedented growth and
evolution.
This is just a taste of
the cutting-edge innovations coming in the Molecular Age, innovations that
will reshape the future in the months and years ahead, and it's starting now.
You're looking
at a simultaneous eruption of
new-age
technologies that will alter our lives
on a scale not
seen for 100 years
All this technological
change and innovation will transform the world.
- 'Nano batteries'
will charge your mobile in
seconds, and even power
whole cities.
- 'Smartphones' will
carry the computing power of IBM's
Watson Supercomputer.
- A new era of
computing mobility — none of the solid rectangular things we carry now
but flexible, wearable devices.
- Handheld
'breathalyzers' will diagnose disease
in seconds.
- Bionic limbs with
human fluidity and dexterity, but the strength
of Superman.
Spacecraft with the capacity to take us beyond our solar system into
places and worlds never explored.
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