The best of the best. These ideas literally have the potential to change the world.
Implosion Fabrication: A new breakthrough could make it possible to shrink down anything to the nanoscale using equipment that already exists in most labs bringing nanotech to the masses. Given these factors Implosion Fabrication could one day be bigger than 3-D printing.
Desktop Supercomputers: It used to be that computers took up entire rooms. Now they fit in our pockets as smartphones. And soon room sized desktop supercomputers will fit inside our pockets as well as a recent breakthrough has managed to shrink one down to the size of a desktop computer.
Graphair: Graphene, the wonder material, has lots of potential uses, but Graphair might be the best one as this graphene based water filter works so well, in fact, that it can even make ocean water drinkable as an experiment in Sydney Harbor attested to.
Graphene Energy: I take that back. The best use of Graphene may be as a potential source of unlimited clean energy as physicstis at the University of Arkansas have invented a nano-scale power generator capable of generating energy from the movement of graphene. At the very least this study proves that it may be possible to use two dimensional materials as a source of energy. Speaking of which…
Graphene x100: We were lucky to stumble upon the amazing properties of Graphene, but there are likely still hundreds of other compounds that we have yet to discover that would also be capable of doing some pretty amazing things. Instead of waiting for these discoveries to happen naturally over time a team of researchers decide to use an advanced computer model to brute force hack the results, leading to the discovery of more than two hundred other compounds with unique properties. If some of them are even better than Graphene the world will never be the same again.
Xofluza: Suffering from the flu may soon be a thing of the past thanks to this new treatment that stops symptoms dead in their tracks within 24 hours.
Color X-Rays: A new breakthrough gives doctors unprecedented ability to see everything in a patient (blood vessels, muscles, etc.) in addition to bone in vivid color.
Solid: As Facebook counters to be embroidered in controversy after controversy it’s becoming more and more clear that the web needs to be re-imagined. Enter Solid from Tim Berners-Lee, one of the original inventors of the web. This exciting project aims to re-invent the world wide web by giving people control over their data as they move through the web. Will take a couple of years but this project has the potential to completely revolutionize the Internet and society along with it.
Blood Type Converter: In need of a blood transfusion? You better hope that someone nearby shares your blood type or has Type O, making them a Universal donor. But in the future blood type won’t matter. Thanks to a new technique that enables any blood type to be converted into Type O.
Apple Watch Series 4: Smart watches haven’t really caught on yet but that may change thanks to the latest Apple watch and its ability to detect heart attacks before they happen.
AT-121: This new drug is said to kill pain just as effectively as morphine but in a dose 100x smaller. And best of all it isn’t addictive.
Agriculture Breakthrough: It is now possible to grow vegetables without sunlight or soil, a breakthrough that could pave the way for space travel.
BioLEC: A new field of science that aims to use the energy from photons to power chemical reactions, similar to how plants utilize photosynthesis. If successful it may one be possible to modify the arrangement of molecules so that we can make say, jet fuel, from something as innocuous as sugar.
BrainNET: Researchers from the University of Washington created a brain to brain interface that enabled a group of three people to play a Tetris like game. The system is still rudimentary but it gives rise to the idea that we may one day all hour our brains hooked up to the Internet, enabling us to send our thoughts and emotions across the web in addition to memes.
CRISPR: The famous gene-editing technique really came to the forefront in 2018 with news that it can be used to created genetically modified food. However, that was just setting the stage for one of the biggest news stories of the year: a Chinese scientist who allegedly conceived the first baby genetically modify using CRISPR.
Apeel: This natural coating can be applied to fruits and vegetables to double or even quadruple their shelf life!
Self-Fertilizing Corn: A type of corn, native to Mexico, produces its own fertilizer, a discovery which could have a huge economic and environmental impact as we struggle to feed the world’s population.
Magnesite: This lab generated mineral is capable of removing carbon dioxide from the air at faster rates than natural occurring processes and could become an important weapon in the fight against climate change.
Chronic Pain Test: Australian researchers have identified a molecule that may indicate exactly how much pain a person is in, enabling doctors to accurately adjust pain medication dosage.
Protein Power: Evolution naturally solves some problems, like making people immune to a certain disease, through the use of proteins. But we don’t have the luxury of waiting for evolution to solve all of our pressing problems. Thankfully, a new breakthrough means that we won’t have to as researchers have found a way to control the process by which proteins are made, allowing us to make new ones that aren’t found naturally. New ones that may have the potential to solve all of our problems from fixing Climate Change to curing diseases. When it’s all said and done this breakthrough could have a greater impact than CRISPR gene editing or synthetic biology.
Heart Patch: In the future it may be possible to repair the damage from heart attacks and prevent them from happening again thanks t a microneedle patch that injects stem cells directly into the heart.
Dissolvable Microneedles: Speaking of microneedles they may soon solve another major medical problem, allowing for people to receive injections without the need for a painful needle, as medications can instead be delivered by applying a harmless microneedle based patch that dissolves into the skin.
Alzheimer’s Eye Exam: Early detection of Alzheimer’s may now be possible thanks to a quick and easy eye exam that can determine mental health issues by examining the health of the blood vessels located behind the eye.
Cure for the Common Cold: The holy grail of medical research may finally be on the verge of happening thanks to the development of a new molecule that is capable of blocking the virus that causes the cold from reaching the protein that it normally infects. Similar approaches have been tried in the past but this is the first time that there weren’t any side effects.
Cure for Baldness: A real hair-raising idea thanks to new research from scientists at the University of Manchester who created a drug that targets the protein that inhibits hair growth.
Earth BioGenome Project: Similar to the Human Genome Project this vast undertaking ($4.7 Billion, 10 years) aims to further our understanding of genetics and biology by sequencing the genome of eurakyotes i.e. everything that contains a nucleus. Which is pretty much everything on Earth (plants, animals, etc.) with the exception of bacteria.
Plastic Eating Enzyme: Considering that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (a trash pile currently floating in the Pacific Ocean), is twice the size of Texas, we need to find a way to clean up our oceans, and fast. Thankfully a serendipitous accidental discovery is here to help, in the form of a new enzyme that is capable of breaking down plastic, and at a faster rate than occurs naturally.
Are any of these the Greatest Idea Ever?
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