It is unclear how useful this technology will be. The targeting accuracy may not be high enough to make it a viable approach in many cases. It might only let a person see very rudimentary shapes or colors. This limitation seriously affects how powerful this kind of prosthetic can become. Perhaps for normal people they could find a way to produce artificial vision in order to create augmented reality. This is sort of like hallucinations except they would start further down the line at the beginning of the optic system. The scientists need to come up with a technique to deliver focused information with a high enough fidelity. They appear to have made some progress towards this goal.

Reaching structures in the brain’s visual cortex is also a possibility for those with more damage. I have expressed skepticism that this could work. However, maybe academics will eventually discover some route forward to make it marketable. To allow bat-like vision would require a device that sends out ultrasound waves into the environment and then records what propagates back to the source. An electronic appliance can then convert those signals into patterns that stimulated the eye. Enhanced senses are an improbable outcome at present. If that was successful, it could allow certain individuals to be able to navigate in a completely dark area. Helping the disabled will likely be the first application for this science.

They aim to develop ultrasonic neural stimulation.

Competing strains of genetically engineered artificial life forms might try to sabotage each other. An attack vector could deliver misinformation to a cell in order to disrupt data transmission. A possibility is to send a virus to prevent them from functioning properly. This may alter how a population of organisms process data. A bacterial nanomachine could also grab a complicated molecule before a second cell would get to it and steal whatever data was in it. Engulfing an entire microbe through phagocytosis is an alternate way to take data. Nano-eavesdropping on processes might be ideal in certain situations. Governments may attempt to develop nano-espionage capabilities in the future.

The emerging field of biochemical encryption might become important in the coming decades. It could be hard to store bits safely in a DNA strand or protein structure without it being decipherable. Researchers cannot utilize regular methods to encrypt data. Scientists are looking into vesicles as a route to hold info and release only in response to a specific stimulus. They are also considering how denial of service attacks would work at this level. Some of these concepts are more like science fiction at present. The likelihood that nefarious forces will misappropriate “code” from nanodevices is still uncertain. It seems like a herculean feat to build these sorts of functionalities into a single cell. However, it is worth examining scenarios such as these ahead of time.

Security in Nano Communication: Challenges and Open Research Issues (see PDF).

It appears that the scientists are combining data from experiments on visual perception with fMRI scans. They will create higher resolution computational models of how regions in the brain process information. The academics are studying both conscious and unconscious parts of sight. The EYESHOTS program is a related undertaking. Researching the connections between vision and motor control is a domain they are focusing on. This should enable flexible movement in unstructured environments.

A main goal of this work is to understand group dynamics. It is challenging to properly simulate aggregate human behavior and try to predict events. The economic crisis has shown what a monumental task it can be to get a handle on markets. While forecasting those sorts of conditions with high fidelity is not going to happen any time soon, there are numerous applications for these virtual agents. It probably won’t be easy to coax useful routines out of these synthetic beings. There has been a lot of hype with neural networks in the past. Perhaps additions like various neurotransmitters can make this a more realistic brain. Unraveling the neurological correlates of various emotions will go a long way towards creating superior artificial intelligences.

Certain imaginative physicists can postulate computers made from black holes or quark gluon plasma. However, futurists usually forget that these theoretical limits are often miles away from what is possible when taking into account numerous other engineering, economic or societal constraints. A person can get overly excited about possible replacements to current transistors as well. Superconducting, spintronic, and plasmonic chips are a few plausible routes. Many of these technologies are not a sure bet for widespread use, unfortunately. To get to exascale and beyond will likely require millions of CPU cores. Advanced programming techniques plus novel algorithms are necessary. Having that many components means a shorter time between chip failures. The editor of this new magazine jokes that it might be necessary to have two zettascale machines (see PDF). One would do simulations and the second could analyze the results. Just taking care of all the failure rates might take even more processing muscle. Is it worth going through all this hassle to approach this capability? Instead of the law of accelerating returns, it is more like the law of diminishing returns.

The exascale research lab is tackling a few of the problems needed to make these higher levels of HPC a reality (see PDF). Simulating vascular flows could help improve the treatment of patients in the future (see PDF).  They are also looking into ventilation and atmosphere models (PDF here). Decoding fMRI scans may also happen in a more effective manner (PDF in French).

The rest of the first issue is found here. So far, none of it is devoted to the speculative zettaflops yet. Maybe that scenario is too much like science fiction at present.

One thing that they are working on is harvesting material from bacteria, microbes and insects in order to develop micro-robot actuation. Scientists are also looking into novel ways to synthesize 3-dimensional cellular systems. This will enable them to craft whole tissue. Being able to scale a bio-hybrid approach is necessary in order to make complex parts. Building stuff from the ground up is much more challenging than genetically tweaking an already existing animal. Artificial single cells are a relatively recent trend and it will still take a long time to build more functionality into them at will. Perhaps they can tackle a few problems all at once, from sub-cellular components up to entire structures. Some of these novel technologies may have a variety of applications for medical therapies. Endowing organs with unique properties not found in nature is a definite possibility.

Future synthetic skin might contain genetic logic gates. This would allow a bio-bot to process information about its environment more effectively. Bioelectronics is an interesting area that should also facilitate breakthroughs. Cells could communicate with one another in other ways as well. As the technology matures, there should be many amazing outcomes.

These files talk about the upcoming bio-bot workshop (see here and here (PDF)).

Right now, it is possible for academics or doctors to change your brain with software. As emulations of the neural networks get better, the patterns of stimulation will undoubtedly become more complex. Putting the technology on your head while you are sleeping is a potential outcome. This might help to consolidate memories after learning a large amount of information. Perhaps before giving a presentation in front of people, you could target neural structures related to relaxation or anxiety. Boosting your attention span or skewing the processing of senses are a few other relatively easy tweaks.

There are many safety mechanisms built into the machines, so it is probably not wise to try to make one of them yourself. Doctors in the future, however, may give their patients one of the contraptions in order to ameliorate a specific disease. The risk of seizures seems to be low, so there may be fewer qualms about doing this.

Do it yourself brain stimulation has numerous dangers associated with it. However, those negatives won’t stop a certain percentage of people from experimenting on themselves. There has been some pseudoscience about using music beats in order to induce altered states. This other technology is much more credible. It could lead to something resembling an adjustable consciousness. The new development indicates that the appliance may eventually regulate functioning in the reward areas of the brain. This means it might be a method for addicts to get their fix. Normally, electrical stimulation of pleasure centers requires brain surgery. It is speculative, but artificially inducing hallucinations is plausible as well. Future neurohackers may discover and share novel programs online that alter their brain activity in a specific way. They could mod their own mind. Some of these effects tend to be somewhat minor and they may take a while to build up. It is unclear if this type of application will catch on with most doctors or patients. However, several intriguing scenarios may crop up as time goes forward.

These nanofactories will also not be “everything machines”. A plant that creates one type of product cannot necessarily synthesize another kind of item. A “nanofactory” will be limited due to numerous engineering constraints just like creating anything else. It seems that some futurists reduce the process of making products to merely downloading a program over the internet. Nanofabrication will still take a large quantity of specialized knowledge and skill that will be unique to a particular company. Thinking you can take a bunch of atoms and then begin synthesizing whole items molecule by molecule is an oversimplification to the extreme. It won’t make economic sense to build many things in this fashion either.

Semiconductor fabrication plants cost billions of dollars. Some of the pieces of equipment designed to construct the chips can be millions of dollars each. Specialized machines to make the nanostructures are not cheap. Several futurists claim that nearly everyone could eventually own a desktop nanofactory and it would allow you to make whatever you wanted. Are people really going to have something analogous to a personal semiconductor plant in their house in the next 50 years? These sorts of machines are usually not found in people’s homes. Saying a nanofactory will be able to duplicate itself to create even more products seems rather absurd. It’s important not to be a nano-narcissist and totally devalue the accomplishments that scientists have made thus far or completely deny potential revolutionary outcomes. Nanotechnology should enable academics to do interesting things, but it important not to overhype the potential.

A major issue with supercapacitors is that they self-discharge even when they aren’t connected to a circuit. The voltage that they maintain thus decreases as the hours pass. These bio-devices are able to keep their charge fairly well and they may be competitive with other types.

It is important not to overstate the potential for this technology. Most likely, this will be used for very niche applications if anything. Practical uses might not be as numerous as many would hope. Microbial fuel cells are a related item that currently appears limited as to what it can do. Tailoring microbes by manipulating specific genes may be necessary in order to boost their capacity.

Uncovering bio-inspired analogues of fundamental electronic units could lead to cellular nanorobots or whole tissue that hoards energy and performs various complex functions. Hybrid bio and fabricated nanotechnologies may have benefits that exceed either one alone. Creating multi-cellular genetically engineered life built on this foundation is much further down the road. That concept is still speculative. Synthetic biology tends to get many futurists very excited about the enormous possibilities. In the end though, the actual products could end up being more mundane than the forecasts.

A few organizations have apparently already delivered pieces of equipment at the building site. They are gearing up to put the whole thing together. The architecture has been validated beforehand by examining smaller prototypes. It is not clear how practical this will be in the immediate future. Don’t expect to be able to get your own head scanned with the device anytime soon. Only a select number of people will actually enter the intimidating machine.

A goal for this work is to gain new insights into brain development and aging. Some academics think that it could represent a large leap in capabilities. However, it may be too soon to tell how successful this upgrade will be. In an integrated approach, they are exploring several related avenues simultaneously (see PDF). A major challenge for this venture is to obtain a resolution that is higher than other related technologies. Neuron scanning technology has provided a wealth of information about the neurological correlates of thinking and emotions. This enhancement should continue that trend. Some forecasters have predicted a coming neurosociety due to these sorts of advances in understanding the mind. While a huge amount of data is being gathered, some of what is collected is still rather obscure. Useful applications seem smaller than what many had envisioned. Perhaps combining big data and search engine like algorithms can help to scour through the material and make it much more valuable.

These files have outlines of the engineering aspects of the venture (see this PDF and this one).

This is an interesting strategy, but as a route for anti-aging it may be less than ideal. Discovering novel antibodies that can break up this junk is certainly plausible. However, a person would likely need to take many different therapies for a lengthy period in order to extend their lifespan. Most people are not Ray Kurzweil and might be unwilling to do such a drastic regimen. There is no telling how many side effects someone would have to deal with when chasing after so many targets. For big pharma, there tends to be a lot of early hype for new techniques. Unfortunately, after numerous failures, the reality sets in that it difficult to obtain FDA approval for stuff. There are so many other parts of the body that would need to be ameliorated as well. This would probably be too expensive for most people. You might have to spend a ton of money, but have little appreciable gain in healthy years. It seems easy to discount the concept of extreme longevity as effectively dead in the water for the immediate future. The anti-aging field is full of many snake-oil salesmen who think that taking the right balance of compounds will help reprogram their biology. SENS is more respectable than many other ventures, but it may fall short. Even sophisticated bio-machines might be a long way off and would be hampered by what they could do. Cost and approval factors may still come into consideration before those tailored cells could find their way into the hospital setting.