Emerging Technologies that will change the world

Each year Technology Review, a journal for the alumni of MIT, chooses 10 emerging areas of technology that will soon have a profound impact on the economy and on how we live and work. These advances span information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology-the core of TR coverage in every issue. All of these areas merit special attention in the decade to come. In each area TR also highlights one innovator who exemplifies the potential and promise of the field. Since these predictions have been ongoing at least since 2001, it is worth examining how good has been the track record of the premium technology university in the world.

In any case, let us start by looking at what TR predicted in 2001:

Brain-Machine Interface : Nicolelis predicts that Human brain machine interface will allow human brains to control artificial devices designed to restore lost sensory and motor functions. Paralysis sufferers, for example, might gain control over a motorized wheelchair or a prosthetic arm-perhaps even regain control over their own limbs

Flexible Transitors : Cherie Kagan, may have opened the door to cheap, flexible electronics that pack the mojo needed to bring ubiquitous computing closer. Her breakthrough? A compromise: transistors made from materials that combine the charge-shuttling power and speed of inorganics with the affordability and flexibility of organics.

Data Mining : also known as knowledge discovery in databases (KDD): the rapidly emerging technology that lies behind the personalized Web and much else besides. the future of data-mining technology? One very hot area is "text data mining": extracting unexpected relationships from huge collections of free-form text documents. Another hot area, says Fayyad, is "video mining": using a combination of speech recognition, image understanding and natural-language processing techniques to open up the world's vast video archives to efficient computer searching.

Digital Rights Management | Singh, president of ContentGuard, is on a mission to commercialize content protection in a wired world. Digital rights management, or DRM, is "the catalyst for a revolution in e-content," says Singh. "DRM will allow content owners to get much wider and deeper distribution than ever before,

Biometrics Visionics develops and markets pattern-recognition software called FaceIt. In contrast to the main competing technology, which relies on data from the entire face, FaceIt verifies a person's identity based on a set of four facial features that are unique to the individual and unaffected by the presence of facial hair or changes in expression. They plan to build the first line of "biometric network appliances-computers hooked to the Net with the capacity to store and search large databases of facial or other biometric information. The appliances, containing customers' identification data, can then receive queries from companies wanting to authenticate e-transactions. And while consumers will be able to access the system from a cell phone, PDA or desktop computer, Atick expects handheld devices to be the biggest market

Natural Language Processing a new generation of interfaces that will allow us to engage computers in extended conversation--an activity that requires a dauntingly complex integration of speech recognition, natural-language understanding, discourse analysis, world knowledge, reasoning ability and speech generation.

Microphotonics In Joannopoulos' lab, photonic crystals are providing the means to create optical circuits and other small, inexpensive, low-power devices that can carry, route and process data at the speed of light

Untangling Code Kiczales champions what he calls "aspect-oriented programming," a technique that will allow software writers to make the same kinds of shortcuts that those of us in other professions have been making for years.

Robot Design Pollak demonstrated how to fully automate the design and manufacture of robotics by deploying computers to conceive, test and even build the configurations of each robotic system: in short, to use robots to build robots.

Microfluidics Stephen Quake uses tiny volumes of fluids thousands of times smaller than a dewdrop. Microfluidics is a promising new branch of biotechnology. The idea is that once you master fluids at the microscale, you can automate key experiments for genomics and pharmaceutical development, perform instant diagnostic tests, even build implantable drug-delivery devices-all on mass-produced chips. It's a vision so compelling that many industry observers predict microfluidics will do for biotech what the transistor did for electronics.

And what does TR predict will be the emerging technologies in 2009:

Intelligent Software Assistant Adam Cheyer is leading the design of powerful software that acts as a personal aide.

$100 Genome Han Cao's nanofluidic chip could cut DNA sequencing costs dramatically.

Racetrack Memory Stuart Parkin is using nanowires to create an ultradense memory chip.

Biological Machines Michel Maharbiz's novel interfaces between machines and living systems could give rise to a new generation of cyborg devices.

Paper Diagnostics George Whitesides has created a cheap, easy-to-use diagnostic test out of paper.

Liquid Battery Donald Sadoway conceived of a novel battery that could allow cities to run on solar power at night.

Traveling-Wave Reactor A new reactor design could make nuclear power safer and cheaper, says John Gilleland.

Nanopiezoelectronics Zhong Lin Wang thinks piezoelectric nanowires could power implantable medical devices and serve as tiny sensors.

HashCache Vivek Pai's new method for storing Web content could make Internet access more affordable around the world.

Software-Defined Networking Nick McKeown believes that remotely controlling network hardware with software can bring the Internet up to speed.

I realize that for most of us the above seem so esoteric and remote that we dismiss them out of hand. It is too complicated, we say, and rush back to headlines of the day which are easier to understand. Yet these technological breakthroughs have the ability to change the entire paradigm of our lives in the future. So at the very least, some of them do deserve a bit of your time and effort to understand.