Technology: Powering the Body Starts With The Mind
We’ve been talking about revolutions over the last few weeks. And there’s no doubt one of the most amazing developments over the next few years will be utilising the power of the mind.
Mind control is one aspect of this. Using the power of your mind to manipulate, enhance and control your environment is life changing.
An example of mind control research and development is happening right now. A group of European universities and companies have developed an exoskeleton for people with paralysis.
This is certainly not the first exoskeleton developed for people with paralysis. Other examples include the Ekso which is one of the finest pieces of tech to arrive in years.
However, this new device is quite different. Because it’s powered by the mind. Simply thinking about walking the bionic legs makes it work.
It’s the same process that non-paralysed people use when they walk. Just think, ‘I’m going to walk’ and you do. Of course in the early stages of development, it’s a little more involved than that. The user must concentrate on each leg rather than the simple process of ‘walk’.
But the team are the right track to getting this perfected. So far the trials enable the user to stand and walk about 15 steps powered by thought.
The team hope to have a commercialised version with all the kinks smoothed out within 3 years.
It’s another great step forward in bionics and science. As we’ve said before, not one single technology will be the answer for everyone. But collaboration like this certainly shows us the potential for great minds to help solve great problems.
Health: The Far Reaching Benefits of The App Economy
‘[it’s] the biggest technology breakthrough of our time [being used] to address our greatest national challenge’ – Kathleen Sebelius, US Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen was talking about Mobile Health Technology (mHealth).
Make no mistake about it, the future of medicine is rapidly changing. The future practice of medicine will adopt mHealth as the norm.
Already there are companies heavily involved in the development of mHealth apps. They are creating multi-million dollar businesses because of this trend.
And there’s proof behind this change. The Economist Intelligence Unit gave Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) the directive to produce a report on the impact mHealth will have on society. We had a good look through the report this week.
Three of the key findings from the report include;
- Over half the people surveyed expected mHealth to improve the convenience, cost and quality of their healthcare over the next 3 years
- One of the barriers to widespread mHealth adoption is existing providers of services. Typically they’re unwilling to adopt the technology in order to protect their own interests.
- Emerging countries are more likely to be aware of and adopt the use of mHealth compared to developed countries.
What this shows is mHealth will become a part of the way we manage our health in the future. The transition to more proactive health management is underway now.
It does need some support though. People in general need to understand that mHealth can add value to their lives. It’s not just some app gimmick on smartphones.
The greater the awareness of the benefits mHealth has, the sooner it will become a normal part of the way we manage our health and the way medicine is practiced.
Those who stand opposed to it are more than likely protecting their self-interest or simply ignorant of the benefits it will have for society. Let’s hope that mind-set will change for the benefit of everyone.
Energy: The Most Efficient Battery Ever Made
We use the word breakthrough a lot. You see almost every week there is a new breakthrough in technology and sciences. And that why we believe it’s the most exciting and potentially profitable time to be alive.
When it comes to energy, it seems to be a divisive topic. Energy breakthroughs often attract their fair share of scepticism. The typical response is, ‘It’s a scam.’
I’m not sure why that is. It might have something to do with promises of the past. There was the bountiful energy promises of Nuclear Fission, the false start for electric cars (see: GM’s EV1) or the unscientifically-proven cold-fusion.
But those aside there are a lot of very smart people trying to figure out one of the world’s biggest problems, clean abundant energy.
Battery technology is one source of energy that is constantly in development and research. And thanks to the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (STW) battery technology has taken another giant step forward.
The scientists at the STW have managed to develop a lithium-ion (Li-on) battery that is the most efficient Li-on battery ever.
After more than 10,000 cycles the batteries continue to retain 85% of its capacity. That means the batteries can be charged and run down for the equivalent of 27 years without losing power.
The car industry is now putting more time and investment into the potential of li-on battery technology. Li-on is great to use in full electric cars and hybrid systems as it’s efficient, powerful and easily manufactured.
Because of this STW say their aim is get their super-batteries into cars and high performance storage system within the next few years.
A breakthrough it is, but it’s not the silver bullet for energy independence. However research and development like this is another giant leap forward in a greener, sustainable energy future.
Sam Volkering
Technology Analyst
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