This blog will look at some of the coolest new technology that has come across my screen lately.

Ultrathin Transistor. Researchers at Cornell have developed a transistor that is only three atoms thick. The transistor is made from an experimental material called transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD).

The findings were published in Nature and noted as a potentially major breakthrough. We are reaching the limit on the smallness of circuits that can be made from silicon and this possibly portends a generation of ultrathin circuits and sensors. The Cornell team has made a circuit on a 4-inch wafer and they believe this can easily be made commercially viable. TMDs are being discussed along with graphene as the potential breakthroughs that will let us march past the Moore’s law limits on circuit sizes.

Acoustruments. Disney research labs have developed a technology they call acoustruments as a way to interface with physical devices using soundwaves. For example, this could let you set an alarm clock at a Disney resort from an app on any cellphone that has a speaker. As you tell the app what to do, it would emit sounds from your cellphone speaker that would then ‘push’ the appropriate buttons on the alarm clock to set the alarm. Disney sees applications allowing people from around the world to have easier interfaces with devices on the Disney property.

This has potential uses far outside this simple example because it could allow a no-power standard interface between people and electronics. This could become a handy way to interface with IoT devices, for example.

Better Electric Conductors. Scientists at Rice University along with the Tejiin Aramid, a firm from the Netherlands, have demonstrated the ability to use carbon nanotubes to carry up to four times as much electricity for the same mass of wires. The team has found techniques that allow them to spin strong durable wire from carbon nanotubes that can perform as well as copper.

This can lead to specialized wiring for those applications where weight is an issue. For example, this could be used to produce higher efficiency long-haul wires from rural solar power stations. Or it could be used in applications like spacecraft, airplanes, and cars where weight is always an issue.

Wireless Energy Transmission. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been able to transmit 1.8 kilowatts of power accurately through the air to a receiver 170 feet away. While this is not very far, nor a lot of power, it is the first practical demonstration of the ability to transmit power in much the same way that we transmit wireless data streams.

Japan’s goal with this project is to eventually be able to beam electricity back to earth from space. They envision large solar plants in space that are more efficient and not dependent upon weather. They envision solar farms set up at 22,300 miles from earth where they would be exposed to the sun continuously.

Breakthroughs in Quantum Computing. Researchers at IBM have made a few breakthroughs that could help to make quantum computers commercially viable. For the first time they have been able to measure the two types of quantum errors (bit-flip and phase-flip) simultaneously, allowing them to now work on an error correction algorithm for quantum computers. Until now, they could only measure one of the two variables at a time. The scientists have also developed a square quantum bit circuit that might make it feasible to mass product quantum chips.

These breakthroughs are important because quantum computing is one of the possible paths that could help us smash past the Moore’s Law limits on current technology. A quantum computer with only 50 quantum bits (qubits) can theoretically outperform a slew of our best supercomputers acting together. Such computers would also allow us to solve problems that are unsolvable today.

Better Atomic Clock. Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Boulder in Colorado have developed an atomic clock that is accurate to within one second in 15 billion years. This is a vast improvement over the current atomic clock technology that uses a vibrating crystal of Cesium 133 and which is accurate to within a second over 100 million years.

The new clock would be sensitive enough to be able to measure the time differences at different altitudes on earth, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein but which has never been demonstrated.