We know, we know... Everyone is busy tussling about with their own lives to keep current on everything. So, as a service, Wasabi Roll decided to research what exactly happened in Science and Technology this year that may have done a "fly by". Anyway, submitted for your approval, please find the 10 most notable discoveries in Science and Technology for the year 2018...
Hey, This AMP Goes to 11 Man...
Researchers
have long experimented with fine-tuning that pressure to push and pull on
things, levitate them or even build tractor beams. In the new study, the researchers used that
same pressure to precisely control the ink inside a printer, vastly expanding
the range of liquids it could print with.
"Our
goal was to take viscosity [the thickness of the liquid] out of the picture by
developing a printing system that is independent from the material properties
of the fluid," lead study author Daniele Foresti, a research associate in
materials science and mechanical engineering at Harvard University's School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences, said in a statement.
Under normal circumstances, printers rely on gravity to form droplets of ink and deposit them, according to the study. That's effective up to a point, but it limits the materials a printer can use; a printer designed to deposit droplets of fast-flowing ink wouldn't do a very good job with much slower-dripping pitch.
The
scientists said that past acoustic printing experiments have used sound waves
to form droplets but offered only limited control over them.
For
their new method to work, the researchers tuned sound waves that would capture
droplets from a nozzle and fire them only after the drops had grown to the
proper size. And that firing is intense: The researchers wrote that their
system accelerates droplets with more than 100 times Earth's gravitational
force at sea level (close to 1,000 meters per second squared) — or about 3.5
times the sun's surface gravity of 274 m/s^2.
"The
idea is to generate an acoustic field that literally detaches tiny droplets
from the nozzle, much like picking apples from a tree," Foresti said.
No
matter how thick or thin the liquid, once it reaches the proper size, the sound
waves capture it, the study said.
The
researchers wrote that pharmaceutical companies seeking precise control over
materials like stem cells should be the first to benefit from their new
printing method, but that they expect it to be useful in all sorts of
industries that work with viscous materials.
3D metal printing
But
3D printing is now becoming easier and less expensive to potentially be a
practical way to manufacture parts, which could upend the entire manufacturing
industry, MIT noted. A number of companies, including GE, Markforged, and
Desktop Metal, have recently released 3D metal printers, which could reduce the
need for manufacturers to maintain large inventories, and instead customer
print materials as needed.
Sensing city
Many
smart city plans have faced delays and operational and cost issues, but a new
smart city project in Toronto, called Quayside, is working with Alphabet's
Sidewalk Labs to rebuild the urban neighborhood around digital technologies.
The
project aims to base decisions about design, policy, and technology on data
gathered from an extensive network of sensors, that can measure factors such as
air quality, noise level, and human activity. It also calls for all vehicles to
eventually be autonomous and shared.
AI for everybody
"Sectors
such as medicine, manufacturing, and energy could also be transformed if they
were able to implement the technology more fully, with a huge boost to economic
productivity," according to the report.
Dueling
neural networks
While
AI can identify images after being trained on a database of pictures, it still
fails to generate original images by itself. Until now: A major breakthrough
approach from a PhD student at the University of Montreal, called a generative
adversarial network (GAN), takes two neural networks and pits them against each
other, to create realistic images and speech.
"The
technology has become one of the most promising advances in AI in the past
decade, able to help machines produce results that fool even humans,"
according to the report.
Zero-carbon
natural gas
Natural
gas is one of the world's primary sources of electricity, but is a major source
of carbon emissions. A company called Net Power is testing a technology that
could make clean energy from natural gas, which could offer the world a way to
produce carbon-free energy from a fossil fuel at a less expensive cost.
Online Privacy no longer and Oximoron
Combining
IoT with blockchain —or BIoT—ushers in a whole host of new services and
businesses. For example, BIoT can be used to track shipments of pharmaceuticals
and to create smart cities in which connected heating systems better controls
energy use and connected traffic lights better manage rush hour.
This
year, companies began to use Application Programming Interfaces, or software
used to connect different databases and computer services combined with the
blockchain Internet of things, it will be as easy to get data from sensors in a
warehouse as accessing websites on our mobile phones.
When
manufacturers, retailers, regulators, and transportation companies have
real-time data from sensors imbedded on products, trucks and ships, everyone in
the distribution chain can benefit from insights that they were previously
unable to get. With BIoT, companies and consumers can also be assured that
their most valuable data on the blockchain cannot be hacked.
"For
banks, this could be a way to use blockchains in payment systems without
sacrificing their clients' privacy," the report stated. "Last year,
JPMorgan Chase added zk-SNARKs to its own blockchain-based payment
system."
A Bot’s Life
The
robots would be developed for a new DARPA program called Short-Range
Independent Microrobotic Platforms (SHRIMP). Under SHRIMP, the bug-sized bots
will be tested for deploying in locations that are difficult for people to
navigate, or are dangerous or inaccessible to humans, according to the
statement.
SHRIMP
will research and develop novel solutions for powering small robots, and will
investigate new materials that could improve the robots' performance without
significantly increasing their size or heft. And to test how well the robots
can perform, SHRIMP will put them through their paces in "an Olympic-style
evaluation," with performances demonstrating their maneuverability,
dexterity and mobility, according to the statement.
One
of the "sports" categories for the bots will test untethered
actuator-power systems, showing how high and how far the robot can jump, how
much weight they can lift, how far they can throw objects and how they perform
in a tug of war.
The
other category is for complete robot designs: The tiny bots will be evaluated
on rock piling, climbing a vertical surface, navigating an obstacle course, and
performing in a biathlon.
Robots
competing in DARPA's robo-lympics may be small, but their minuscule size will
allow them to perform important tasks that are off-limits to larger robots. And
discoveries that make the tiny robots
more powerful and agile could be applied to other areas where the use of
robotics is currently constrained by their size or bulkiness — "from
prosthetics to optical steering," Ronald Polcawich, a DARPA program
manager in the Microsystems Technology Office, said in the statement.
Robot
proposals are due Sept. 26, and the testing period is estimated to kick off in
March 2019, according to the project website.
Progressive Web Apps
Progressive
web app (PWA) would be another emerging software development trend in 2018. In
the past year, you have seen a solid growth of progressive web-based
applications, so there is no reason to think that this will going to change in
2018 and in the upcoming years. Progressive web apps are the utmost way for app
developers by which they can make their web apps load faster and more performance. Basically, a PWA is a web application that can easily be installed on your devices. They work comfortably offline and thus, you don’t need a stable internet connection to use these apps.
You can easily develop progressive web apps without any hassle and their maintenance is also easier as compared to the native applications. They contain the best features of the web and mobile apps.
They make use of the vast web ecosystem, plugins and community. So, you can expect that in upcoming years, progressive web-based applications will be able to establish their presence firmly in the market.
Cybersecurity Takes Precedence
You
have already noticed some cybersecurity breaches like WannaCry, Equifax, etc.,
which have made the life miserable.
In 2018, the companies are focusing more on cybersecurity so that they can perform all the operation uninterruptedly. Cybersecurity initiatives can be divided into two categories and they are Internal and external. Internally, the companies will be focused on building security into their software. DevOps teams should keep their prime focus on automating security testing into their software development lifecycle. This will help ensure that no vulnerabilities will enter in the development process. Externally, venture capitalists are helping cybersecurity startups with funds and other requirements.
Currently, there are five cybersecurity startups worth over $1B, and in 2018, you can expect more will come. Like blockchain and IoT, cybersecurity is another latest technology, which will grow in 2018 and in future.
Therefore,
these are the latest technologies in software industry, which have a bright
future. However, the person who belongs to technology and software industry
knows that making predictions about the trends in technology is an exercise in
vain. Because many surprises can come from multiple directions and the
companies can release new technological developments at any time, which they
are intended.
In 2018, the companies are focusing more on cybersecurity so that they can perform all the operation uninterruptedly. Cybersecurity initiatives can be divided into two categories and they are Internal and external. Internally, the companies will be focused on building security into their software. DevOps teams should keep their prime focus on automating security testing into their software development lifecycle. This will help ensure that no vulnerabilities will enter in the development process. Externally, venture capitalists are helping cybersecurity startups with funds and other requirements.
Currently, there are five cybersecurity startups worth over $1B, and in 2018, you can expect more will come. Like blockchain and IoT, cybersecurity is another latest technology, which will grow in 2018 and in future.
Therefore,
these are the latest technologies in software industry, which have a bright
future. However, the person who belongs to technology and software industry
knows that making predictions about the trends in technology is an exercise in
vain. Because many surprises can come from multiple directions and the
companies can release new technological developments at any time, which they
are intended.
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We would like to thank our sponsors, for without them - our fine content wouldn't be deliverable!
Source(s)
- https://www.livescience.com/63483-printer-sound-blast.html
- https://www.livescience.com/63129-darpa-tiny-robot-olympics.html
- http://fortune.com/2017/12/26/4-technology-trends-2018/
- https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science
- https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-latest-new-technologies-in-computer-science
So “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;”
____________________________________________________________
About Rick Ricker
An IT professional with over 23 years experience in Information Security, wireless broadband, network and Infrastructure design, development, and support.
For more information, contact Rick at (800) 399-6085 x502
For more information, contact Rick at (800) 399-6085 x502
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