<\/b>Digital biology<\/b><\/p>\n Digital biology<\/p><\/div>\n Traditionally, says Schmidt, our understanding of and approach to biological processes has been analogue \u2013 that is to say, we have tried to understand biology \u201cas it happens\u201d, and to see what effects our treatments have by testing them on people. In the future, he says, biology will go digital.<\/p>\n The vast amounts of data we have collected (and are collecting) on biological processes, such as the data gathered by the Human Genome Project, will be used to run simulations of biological processes that will enable us to predict how diseases will unfold for particular people, how brains will respond to particular drugs, how particular genes will affect the development of children and so on.<\/p>\n This will revolutionise the way we approach chronic and genetic diseases, and may even help us build better human beings using gene therapies. As populations live longer, changes to how we use data in biology may have a very dramatic impact on the quality of those now-longer lives.<\/p>\n <\/b>Manufacturing: New materials, new methods<\/b><\/p>\n 3D printing<\/p><\/div>\n Here, says Schmidt, two trends are combining to transform the face of manufacturing.<\/p>\n First, he says, \u201ca new set of ultrapowerful, ultralight, ultraconductive materials can now be manufactured at scale.\u201d We don\u2019t often think about it, but a lot of what we can do with technology is constrained by the materials we have \u2013 no lithium-ion polymer batteries would mean no iPhone.<\/p>\n Innovations in materials are therefore essential to general innovation, and so a lot of emphasis is placed on\u00a0materials development in rich countries<\/a>\u00a0where innovation is key to growth. And as Schmidt says,\u00a0new materials<\/a>\u00a0mean new possibilities for technology.<\/p>\n The second trend reshaping manufacturing, says Schmidt, is \u201cthe arrival of\u00a0three-dimensional printing<\/a>, where you can essentially build your own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Together, these two trends \u201cmean that it\u2019ll be possible to build very interesting things from very interesting, new materials, which have all sorts of new properties,\u201d says Schmidt. This will transform\u00a0the nature and scale of manufacturing<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/b>Smarter computers<\/b><\/p>\n Smarter computer<\/p><\/div>\n This may not seem all that revolutionary, but will probably do more than anything else to change your day-to-day life. Essentially, computer processing and storage capacity is growing all the time.<\/p>\n If you have an Android phone, for example, and you let Google Now follow you and gather data about you, it can gather and process\u00a0a lot<\/i>\u00a0of information and store it in Google\u2019s massive processing arrays.<\/p>\n Right now, it can use this information to, say, advise you on a better route to work by monitoring traffic reports and knowing where you are and where you\u2019re headed, but Google envisions it doing much, much more.<\/p>\n With enough data about you, Google (or the next similar thing) could advise you on which job to take or even who to marry \u2013 it probably knows more about your blind date than you do, after all.<\/p>\n This is the corollary of what observers call Big Data \u2013 when data gets big enough, a computer could \u201cknow\u201d and \u201cthink about\u201d more facts about you than you can, and thus theoretically know you better than you know yourself.<\/p>\n In the future, says Schmidt, your computer will be more like a friend and a guide than a simple tool.<\/p>\n Should we be afraid?<\/b><\/p>\n As technology marches on, there are always people who point to downsides. Digital biology, for example, raises the spectre of designer babies and people discarded for their biological imperfections (remember the film\u00a0Gattaca<\/i>?).<\/p>\n New materials mean new worries about carcinogenic chemicals, and 3-D printing means the loss of traditional manufacturing jobs.<\/p>\n And of course, the idea of Google knowing enough about you to recommend a spouse isn\u2019t exactly comfortable.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to slow the march of technology, but in democracies, we at least get to make the rules that govern their use. Being informed of what\u2019s out there is the first step in doing so.<\/p>\n Source: Moneyweb<\/a><\/p>\n Monster-sized Samsung UHD TV gets monster SA price<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Wearable robots<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Robotic use rises as manufacturing becomes reshored<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n![\"Digital](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Digital-biology.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"3D](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/3D-printing.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"Smarter](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Smarter-computer.jpg\")
<\/a>More gadget articles<\/strong><\/h3>\n