Mixed in among thousands of unnecessary and pretty useless gadgets, tech-savvy people introduced many revolutionary technologies during the past decade. An array of incredible innovations and inventions came onto the market or entered the prototyping stage.
Let’s look at some of the most promising ones.
Virtual reality tops the list of inventions and innovations
Did you know that Ivan Sutherland, a computer scientist, and one of his students, Bob Sproull created the first virtual reality headset back in 1968? Since then, new innovative uses of VR include exposure therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Essentially, a re-enactment of the traumatic event could help patients deal with the trauma and start the healing process. Similarly, therapists use VR headsets in treating depression, phobias and anxiety. Furthermore, gamers use VR to enhance their gaming experiences and adventures.
Smart watches are innovations that get better every year
Looking back over the years, the original smart watch might have been the walkie-talkie-like watch that Dick Tracy wore. Subsequently, we saw Captain Kirk and his Star Trek crew maintaining contact with the enterprise. Similarly, James Bond was never without various smart watches to use as phones, cameras, transmitters, and even powerful magnets and laser cutters.
Right now, we have watches that show time, receive and make calls, record voices in meetings and other important events. In addition, they can synchronize calendars and boost productivity by sending reminders. Furthermore, smart watches can track your activity, monitor oxygen level, body temperature and heart rate.
Drones are innovations with limitless uses
While the word “drone” had no meaning some years back, they are now valuable tools in many industries. Along with becoming affordable toys, they can deliver small objects, capture live events, movies and commercials, and survey dangerous areas. Furthermore, law enforcement uses drones in many ways, including wildlife crime, animal poaching and illegal logging. Animal researchers also use drones to study animals, and the military uses them for 24-hour eyes in the sky.
New inventions and innovations like CRISPR can alter genes
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or CRISPR, will bring about significant changes to our understanding of DNA and biology. Essentially, it allows identifying of a specific piece of DNA in a cell. Editing that bit of DNA is then possible.
No-kill lab-grown meat
In December 2020, the American company Eat Just produced lab-grown “chicken bites” that passed the Singapore Food Agency’s safety review. This approval could be a landmark moment in the worldwide meat industry. This is the first step in producing all meat products without killing animals.
Self-driving vehicles
Autonomous vehicles do not require humans to play any role in their operation and navigation. Software controls all the aspects and navigation as it drives the car. However, it will likely take a decade or longer for vehicle automation to move from collaborative driving to self-driving. Right now, drivers continue to play an essential role in overseeing the machinery and computer control of the vehicle.
3D Bioprinting
The development cannot evolve quick enough. Thousands of people die while waiting for transplants of kidneys, liver and hearts. The strides scientists have made in synthesizing human tissue cells is promising. 3D bioprinting replicates imitation parts of blood vessels, bones and natural tissues.
Teleportation
Teleportation is still an “only in the movies” thing for me. However, great strides have been made, and some physicists like Masahiro Hotta in Japan had some level of success. Teleportation involves transferring energy over distances without traversing the physical space that separates them. Who knows, in years to come, cargo and human teleportation might be possible.
