Breakthrough technologies 2014

Each year, MIT highlights ten technologies that , in the judgement of the editor of the MIT Technology Review magazine, will have a great impact. This year each breakthrough was the solution to a long standing problem and in a few cases it followed decades of frustration.Whether the problem was creating machines that have the balance and agility to walk and run across rough terrains or designing virtual reality goggles finally good enough and cheap enough to be widely used, the solutions demand artistic creativity as well as willingness to suffer failure.Technologists tend to remember those innovations that succeeded in solving problems; yet more heroic are those who contributed without recognition to the incremental improvements or necessary but unsuccessful experiments that led ineluctably to the breakthrough itself.

So what are the predictions of 2014 for the breakthrough technologies:

Genome editing: the ability to modify targetted genes in primates is a valuable tool in the study of human diseases

Agile Robots: It will make the world accessible to legged machines

Ultraprivate smartphones: Government and advertisers gather intimate details from cell phones and this will stop that.

Micro scale 3 D printing: Making biological materials with desired functions could lead to artificial organs and novel cyborg parts.

Mobile collaboration: Much of todays office work is done outside the office

Smart wind and solar power:Dealing with the intermittency of renewable energy will be crucial for its expansion

Oculus rift: Visibly immersive interfaces will lead to new forms of entertainment and communication

Neuromorphic chips: Traditional chips are reaching a fundamental performance limits

Agricultural drones: Close monitoring of crops could improve water use and pest management

Brain mapping:As neuroscientists try to understand how the brain works, they need a detailed map of its anatomy.