10 breakthrough technological advancements of 2018 (p. 1)

In our recent series of posts we took a look at the most promising business industries with the highest potential. Now, we'll see what developments in technological progress that were brought about in the last year, have the strongest potency to change the way humanity lives.

Increasing physical agility of robots

So, robots are learning to live in this physical world at a fast pace.

Despite all the buzz about robotics and automation taking away tens of thousands of jobs from humans, the machines are still clumsy and slow. A robot can easily pick and stick elements and details of the final product at an assembly line - and do it with exceptional precision, but move this detail a couple of centimeters away from the spot it is supposed to be on, and the hardware will go awry or act like a bot in a computer game.

Even though robots still can't be programmed to think about the way it is best to handle physical objects themselves, like we, people, do, they already are able to learn by trial and errors (machine learning). A good example of the project that harvests machnie learning in making the robots more physically savvy to operate in this world is Dactyl. The android hand succeeded in teaching itself how to build a toy block.

We’ll need further breakthroughs for robots to master the advanced dexterity needed in a real warehouse or factory. But if researchers can reliably employ this kind of learning, robots might eventually assemble our gadgets, load our dishwashers, and even help Grandma out of bed. —Will Knight

New type of nuclear power generating

The fusion and fission nuclear reactors - once known only from sci-fi books are entering the reality the way they never did before.

The major promise and hope set by those cutting-edge reactors is that they have the potential to drastically decrease CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and tackle the climate change that is already leaving devastating consequences on the face of our planet.

Arctic pole 100 years ago vs today

The best example of the new type of nuclear energy generators isGeneration IV fission reactors. They are smaller, they are modular, they reap the electricity from the fusion reaction. The developers of those reactors entered into R&D deals with municipalities in Canada to plug to the grid by the end of 2020. This term, though, may sound a bit optimistic.

While most today's nuclear reactors produce ~1,000 megawatts, the fission reactors are capable of generating tens of thousands of MWs.

Prediction of the chance for preemy

Why it matters
15 mln babies around the world are born prematurely each year - this is the main cause of pre-5 y.o. death in all developed countries.

Today, a regular blood test may successfully predict whether a pregnant woman has a high chance to give premature birth.

People's genetic base dwells mainly in our cells. However, little amounts of non-cell DNA and RNA live on our blood. More often than not, they are emitted there from dying cells. In a pregnant woman, this non-cell material is a unsettled mixture of acids originating from fetus and placenta. Freely living DNA and RNA are able to derive infortmation that used to require invasive tools for grabbing cells, always involving surgery, such as the biopsy of a tumor. Today, however, it's become easier for the doctors to detect those freely dwelling DNA and RNA directly in the blood.