引领未来的十大科技创新

10 Breakthrough Technologies 2015

Introduction

Not all breakthroughs are created equal. Some arrive more or less as usable things; others mainly set the stage for innovations that emerge later, and we have to estimate when that will be. But we’d bet that every one of the milestones on this list will be worth following in the coming years.

-The Editors

• Magic Leap

• 

  A startup is betting more than half a billion dollars that it will dazzle you with its approach to creating 3-D imagery.

  Availability: 1-3 years

• Nano-Architecture

• 

  A Caltech scientist creates tiny lattices with enormous potential.

  Availability: 3-5 years

• Car-to-Car Communication

  A simple wireless technology promises to make driving much safer.

  Availability: 1-2 years

• Project Loon

• 

  Billions of people could get online for the first time thanks to helium balloons that Google will soon send over many places cell towers don’t reach.

  Availability: 1-2 years

• Liquid Biopsy

  Fast DNA-sequencing machines are leading to simple blood tests for cancer.

  Availability: now

• Megascale Desalination

  The world’s largest and cheapest reverse-osmosis desalination plant is up and running in Israel.

  Availability: now

• Apple Pay

  A clever combination of technologies makes it faster and more secure to buy things with a wave of your phone.

  Availability: now

• Brain Organoids

  A new method for growing human brain cells could unlock the mysteries of dementia, mental illness, and other neurological disorders.

  Availability: now

• Supercharged Photosynthesis

  Advanced genetic tools could help boost crop yields and feed billions more people.

  Availability: 10-15 years

• Internet of DNA

  A global network of millions of genomes could be medicine’s next great advance.

  Availability: 1-2 years