Communications

Everyday brings new technological breakthroughs – and one of the most fascinating is the development of sensors that enable the tongue to actually see. This ability is rudimentary now, like seeing a series of pointillist patterns, perhaps a little like the earliest video games.

It’s the stuff of sci-fi movies – mind control, where you just direct your mind to make something happen and it does, such as using your thoughts to mentally control a space ship. But more and more your brain waves have the power to actually manipulate and move objects.

Recent developments suggest that wearable computing may finally be gaining traction. Intel evangelist Manny Vara believes that comfortable and convenient wearable computers may be just two to five years away.

originally posted to the Trends & Foresight blog

It isn't just newspapers and mass circulation magazines that are being impacted by the rise of e-publishing and the Internet. Science journalism is also taking a hit as traditional print media advertising revenues dry up. Those who write the journal articles may not see it hit their pocketbooks since they are primarily funded by their research.

Every year the MIT Technology Review picks the ten technologies that represent significant breakthroughs. Past years have included crowdfunding in 2012, gestural interfaces to computers in 2011, engineered stem cells in 2010 and low cost DNA sequencing in 2009, just to name a few. What's on the list for 2013? Here are your top ten:

A veritable cornucopia of gadgets can be found at Open Source Technology, featuring the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS), a modular, low-cost technology platform from which you can manufac

Over the coming years we will be seeing a mass disassembling of traditional schools, with pieces reassembling around some new system architecture. Some of the missing elements are testing centers, micro-credits, and credit banks. Here is a brief overview of how and why this transition is about to occur.

This has been a quite a week for my family. We sold our house of 18 years and will be moving into the heart of the city of Toronto in the next two months. As a "Baby Boomer" this is a downsizing exercise and an opportunity for renewal.

The Future - Six Drivers of Global Change, former Vice President Al Gore replied, "Random House came up with that title." It's not an auspicious beginning to a talk about the perils of the Global Megacrisis, when you more or less say your title was chosen because the marketing team liked it best.

My weekly picks unlike last week are not a single theme but range over many science and technology fields. I hope you find these stories as interesting as I do.

• The Universe is 100 Millions Older Than We Thought;
• Physicists Calculate Doomsday Argument;
• New 3D Display No Longer Requires Glasses;