What will really change the world

Every year, MIT Technology  Review  picks the ten technologies most likely to change the world. Here is their list for 2013:

How does MIT choose the 10 technologies? They want them to reflect the full range of interests, which uniquely amongst technology media companies encompass every domain: information technology, communications, energy, biomedicine, materials, and so on. But, even more, they are interested in how technologies can solve really hard problems. They look first for difficulty: they select problems whose intractability is a source of frustration, grief, or comedy and whose solution will expand human possibilities. The breakthroughs are variously mature. Although they insist that every technology possess some plausible path to widespread use, some are still in the lab, some are in commercial development, and others are being sold by companies.

This list of 10 breakthrough technologies is, however, entirely subjective. There is no nomination process, nor panels of distinguished judges. The 10 technologies are an expression of our preferences and emphases, and they grow out of our reporting over the previous year.

Deep Learning

With massive amounts of computational power, machines can now recognize objects and translate speech in real time. Artificial intelligence is finally getting smart.

Temporary Social Media

Messages that quickly self-destruct could enhance the privacy of online communications and make people freer to be spontaneous.

Prenatal DNA Sequencing

Reading the DNA of fetuses will be the next frontier of the genomic revolution. But do you really want to know about the genetic problems or musical aptitude of your unborn child?

Additive Manufacturing

Skeptical about 3-D printing? GE, the world’s largest manufacturer, is on the verge of using the technology to make jet parts.

Baxter: The Blue-Collar Robot

Rodney Brooks’s newest creation is easy to interact with, but the complex innovations behind the robot show just how hard it is to get along with people.

Memory Implants

A maverick neuroscientist believes he has deciphered the code by which the brain forms long-term memories. The project is to restore the ability to create long-term memories in patients with severe memory problems by putting silicon chips inside their heads.Next: testing a prosthetic implant for people suffering from long-term memory loss.A little speculation suggests that memory implants might one day make a person more memorious than she was by nature, or preserve her plasticity late into life (so that, as an old woman, she could learn new languages or skills with the ease of toddler), or provide yet more science-fictional capabilities.

Smart Watches

The designers of the Pebble watch realized that a mobile phone is more useful if you don’t have to take it out of your pocket.

Ultra-Efficient Solar Power

Doubling the efficiency of a solar cell would completely change the economics of renewable energy. Nanotechnology just might make it possible.

Big Data from Cheap Phones

Collecting and analyzing information from simple cell phones can provide surprising insights into how people move about and behave – and even help us understand the spread of diseases.

Supergrids

A new high-power circuit breaker could finally make highly efficient DC power grids practical.

As in all cases let us look back on what they predicted in the past: In 2001, they predicted for example:

Egg Stem Cells

A recent discovery could increase older women's chances of having babies.

Ultra-Efficient Solar

Under the right circumstances, solar cells from Semprius could produce power more cheaply than fossil fuels.

Light-Field Photography

Lytro reinvented the camera so that it can evolve faster.

Solar Microgrids

Village-scale DC grids provide power for lighting and cell phones.

3-D Transistors

Intel creates faster and more energy-efficient processors.

A Faster Fourier Transform

A mathematical upgrade promises a speedier digital world.

Nanopore Sequencing

Simple and direct analysis of DNA will make genetic testing routine in more situations.

Crowdfunding

Kickstarter is funding the commercialization of new technologies.

High-Speed Materials Discovery

A new way to identify battery materials suitable for mass production could revolutionize energy storage.

Facebook's Timeline

The social-networking company is collecting and analyzing consumer data on an unprecedented scale.

And just five years ago, 2008,the prediction ere for:

Top of Form

Year:  

Bottom of Form

Modeling Surprise 

Combining massive quantities of data, insights into human psychology, and machine learning can help manage surprising events, says Eric Horvitz.

Probabilistic Chips 

Krishna Palem thinks a little uncertainty in chips could extend battery life in mobile devices--and maybe the duration of Moore's Law, too.

NanoRadio 

Alex Zettl's tiny radios, built from nanotubes, could improve everything from cell phones to medical diagnostics.

Wireless Power 

Physicist Marin Soljacic is working toward a world of wireless electricity.

Atomic Magnetometers 

John Kitching's tiny magnetic-field sensors will take MRI where it's never gone before.

Offline Web Applications 

Adobe's Kevin Lynch believes that computing applications will become more powerful when they take advantage of the browser and the desktop.

Graphene Transistors 

A new form of carbon being pioneered by Walter de Heer of Georgia Tech could lead to speedy, compact computer processors.

Connectomics 

Jeff Lichtman hopes to elucidate brain development and disease with new technologies that illuminate the web of neural circuits.

Reality Mining 

Sandy Pentland is using data gathered by cell phones to learn about human behavior.

Cellulolytic Enzymes 

Frances Arnold is designing better enzymes for making biofuels from cellulose.