New senses to come
The theory of the basic 5 senses - touch, taste, hearing, smell, and vision - will be expanded in 2019. Thanks to new technologies, we will be able to transmit the data stream directly to the brain, thus forming a new type of sense, says Professor David Eagleman in his book “The Brain: Your Personal History”. This idea is going to be implemented in real life very soon.
Miniaturized satellite to replace large ones
Artificial satellites have been widely used in the Earth orbit and have gained a good reputation. However, these satellites are only affordable for countries having a huge budget on space exploration.
In the nearest future, CubeSat will probably grow in popularity. This is a standardized satellite cube of 10 x 10 x 11.35 cm in size which is supposed to reduce significantly the cost of launching artificial satellites. Some positive steps have already been taken thanks to the efforts of Elon Musk and other space enthusiasts.
CubeSat can be used for photography, atmospheric observations, and navigation. Tim Harford, one of the most respected economists in the world, predicts an unprecedented number of launches of such miniature space satellites in 2019.
Vacuum high-speed transport
It’s not long before the most ambitious transport projects of our time - the Hyperloop vacuum train - will be turned into reality, billionaire and founder of Virgin Group Richard Branson believes. Although the first commercial route is still far from being launched, the project is highly likely to be completed this year.
Blockchain and the art
With the help of blockchain technologies, the global art market will become more transparent and secure, and the problem of fakes will be resolved, former UK Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey said. By the beginning of 2019, 5% of all the blockchain technologies have been already involved in the field of art, and this share will only grow in the near future.
Fake videos to become part of political propaganda
Last year, Deepfake, a technique for human image synthesis based on artificial intelligence, came into life. The first fake videos made by a neural network turned out to be very realistic. Yasmin Green, research director at Alphabet, thinks that in 2019 such videos will be almost impossible to distinguish from the real ones. One of the dangers posed by such fakes is their possible use in order to discredit political rivals.
Economic inequality remains one of the most pressing issues in today's world. To measure the gap between the rich and the poor in each country, the Gini index is used. This coefficient reflects how income is distributed within a society: the closer the index is to 100, the greater the inequality. Let's explore which countries currently have the highest Gini index values
This year has been pivotal for Bitcoin, the world's leading cryptocurrency. One of the key milestones was the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In April 2024, Bitcoin also experienced a halving event, which is typically seen as a positive development for the digital asset. This year, the cryptocurrency is up 57%, and analysts remain optimistic about its future. However, they highlight four key factors that could influence Bitcoin's trajectory, both for better and for worse
Analytical periodical US News and World Report has presented its ranking of the best countries in the world in terms of quality of life, based on a survey of nearly 17,000 people. The list considers factors such as economic and political stability, a strong labor market, income equality, family-friendliness, safety, the quality of education, and healthcare systems. Let's find out which countries made it to the top of this list.
