Insights October 6th, 2017

Screen Shot 2017-10-06 at 7.05.25 AM
Each week Nikolas Badminton, Futurist Speaker, summarizes the top-5 future looking developments and news items that I find to be inspiring, interesting, concerning, or downright strange. Each day he reads through dozens of blogs and news websites to find those things that we should be aware of.
In Exponential Minds’ The Future of Translation we look at Google’s new translation headphones, China’s lab-grown meat deal, modular bots, and synthetic blood.

Google’s new wireless headphones can translate languages on the fly

In addition to the translation of 40 languages, these headphones can also alert users to notifications, send texts and give directions.

Google’s new wireless headphones can translate languages on the fly from CNBC.

China Signed a $300 Million Lab-Grown Meat Deal with Israel

China has signed a trade agreement with Israel worth $300 million that will see the country import lab-grown meats produced by three companies: SuperMeat, Future Meat Technologies, and Meat the Future. This move is part of China’s ongoing effortto address its most pressing environmental problems.
The Israel Innovation Authority and the Israel Export Institute were involved in brokering the deal with China. Both organizations were in attendance at the inaugural lab-made meat conference, which took place in Haifa, Israel this past May
Read more at Futurism

These Robots Can Merge and Split Their Brains to Form New Modular Bots

We present robots whose bodies and control systems can merge to form entirely new robots that retain full sensor motor control. Our control paradigm enables robots to exhibit properties that go beyond those of any existing machine or of any biological organism: the robots we present can merge to form larger bodies with a single centralized controller, split into separate bodies with independent controllers, and self-heal by removing or replacing malfunctioning body parts. This work takes us closer to robots that can autonomously change their size, form and function.

Read more at IEEE

Phone calls can be beamed right into your central nervous system

Just what you need in the age of ubiquitous surveillance: the latest cochlear implants will allow users stream audio directly from their iPhone into their cochlear nerve. Apple and implant manufacturer Cochlear have made “Made for iPhone” connectivity available for any hearing implants that use the next-generation Nucleus 7 sound processor. The advance means that these implants can also stream music and Netflix shows.
The technology was first unveiled in 2014 when it was added to hearing aids such as the Starkey Halo and ReSound LiNX. But this is the first time it’s been linked into the central nervous system.
While some cochlear implants already offer Bluetooth connectivity, these often require users to wear extra dongles or other intermediary devices to pick up digital signals, and then rebroadcast them to the hearing aid as radio. This technology simply beams the signal right into the brain.
Read more at New Scientist

Scientists are creating Synthetic Blood “ErythroMer”

 
 
 
 

Society
headshot

Futurist Keynote Speaker and Consultant - Nikolas Badminton

CEO of EXPONENTIAL MINDS and an award-winning Futurist Speaker, researcher and author. His expertise and thought leadership will guide you from complacency to thinking exponentially, planning for longevity, and encouraging a culture of innovation. You will then establish resiliency and abundance in your organization. Please reach out to discuss how he can help you, and read on to see what is happening in the world this week.

Contact Nikolas