In their latest issue Discover Magazine unveiled a call to arms for suggestions about scientific news stories from the past year so that they could assemble their annual year in review issue featuring the 100 top stories from the past year. Rather than just give them a few suggestions I figured I would do them one better and just make the whole list for them. However, my list would be a little bit different since I won’t focus on just scientific discoveries and breakthroughs but rather on any great idea from the past year whether it be a real invention or just wishful thinking. I would also only focus on the top 50 ideas instead of 100 and since this is me we’re talking about I would have to add a twist to make things interesting.
So, without further adieu and in no particular order here is my list of the 50 best ideas of 2013 in story form:
- Mark Zuckerberg unveils Internet.org, a partnership with several tech companies predicated around the idea of providing everyone in the World with internet access.
- Not to be outdone Google reveals that they too want to bring internet access to remote locations via a network of tethered balloons. An idea so crazy that Google actually refers to it as Project Loon.
- They don’t stop there though also announcing that for their next moon shot they are going to find the proverbial fountain of youth and cure aging. The company that they create to do just that is dubbed Calico.
- Larry Page and company weren’t the only ones making headlines. Elon Musk was also hard at work on several fronts. While his company SpaceX was creating a reusable rocket called the Grasshopper that set a new altitude record he was also…
- Blowing us away with his plans for the Hyperloop, a new high speed mode of transportation that could make it possible to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 30 minutes. And if that’s not enough he also announced that he had invented a way to design rocket parts using Minority Report style hand gestures. He also stated that he wanted to…
- Create an actual working model of the underwater car/submersible from the James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me”.
- If you think that idea is far out then you haven’t seen anything yet for there is a company called Planetary Resources with a real far out idea: mining asteroids for natural resources. There’s just one problem with that plan: they might not get the chance to mine them if the United Nations gets their way.
- But that’s not the only space themed idea that made headlines this year. Japan also announced plans to beam solar energy down from space. While NASA announced…
- That they had figured out a way to use lasers to transmit data between the Earth and the Moon rapidly improving their ability to communicate in space.
- That’s a great an idea and all but if you’re going to use lasers for anything it might as well be a working version of a light saber.
- Be careful when handling one though because if you lose your hand while battling a Jedi you won’t be able to take advantage of Disney’s new finger powered technology.
- You also won’t be able to use the incredible new Leap Motion controller, the most radical change to the way that we interact with computers since the advent of the mouse.
- Nor will you be able to take advantage of Apple’s attempt at improving password security, the fingerprint scanner.
- And sadly you won’t even get to play with Microsoft’s Project Spark.
- But don’t fret for you will eventually regain feeling in your replacement limb thanks to new mind-controlled prosthetics from DARPA.
- Speaking of mind control it is now possible to control someone’s mind remotely as two University of Washington researchers proved earlier this year.
- Assuming that you still have control over your own faculties you may want to put on a pair of Google Glass to compliment what you would normally be able to see.
- Or you could utilize a new expanding camera lens that combines insect and human vision.
- But if that’s not good enough you can always just enhance your other senses by implanting magnets into your ears to give yourself your very own headphones.
- If that approach is too extreme for you then perhaps you’d prefer to put on a pair of mind-reading headphones instead and have music selected for you based on your mood.
- Now that your favorite song has pumped you up it’s time to start planning that hard earned vacation to the edge of the stratosphere that you’ve been dreaming about.
- Be careful on your way up though. The skies are becoming a crowded place thanks to commercialized drones that deliver Taco Bell to remote locations as well as…
- Flying cars from Terrafugia that we’ve all been waiting for since we first saw the Jetsons.
- And that’s not even taking into account tiny atmospheric bacteria that could affect the weather on your trip.
- Since you’re going to be up there for a while you might want to pack a snack. The newly developed liquid meal, Soylent Green, could be just what you need.
- Once you get up there take a minute to take in the sights and ponder what the Mars Rover Curiosity is up to.
- Then use some of your remaining time to consider the future of Bitcoins and digital currency as well as…
- What it will be like once equity based crowd funding gets under way.
- If you get bored of doing that you can instead think about all of the amazing scientific achievements of the past year including a breakthrough in creating sustainable nuclear fusion as well as…
- The creation of cube shaped robots that self assemble and…
- An intriguing discovery indicating that the DNA in our bodies is governed by a biological clock.
- But none of those discoveries can top the fact that scientists were able to grow mini brains from stem cells!
- Actually that’s not entirely true. The fact that there is now a Quantum Invisibility Cloak that hides objects from reality comes pretty darn close.
- Once you are back down on the ground you’ll have several choices to get you home safely as you can either head out in style by using the Model S electric car from Tesla, the best car ever tested by Consumer Reports or by using…
- A driverless car from Google, which will get you home safer than any human ever could.
- If you are going to have a human drive you home though you might as well equip your car with the See Through System so that they can see through trucks ahead of them on the road.
- Upon arriving home you can use your heartbeat to unlock your front door courtesy of the Nymi Bracelet.
- You can then turn on the lights and the internet at the same time thanks to your newly installed Li-Fi which uses converted LED light bulbs to transmit data faster than traditional Wi-Fi.
- At this point you are too wound up from your adventure to head to bed so instead you use the Vasper Machine to get a workout in.
- Afterwards you realize that you probably should head straight to bed but instead you head to the living room where you immerse yourself in the virtual reality haven provided by the Oculus Rift.
- Afterwards you want to relax and enjoy a cold beer but there’s just one problem. You don’t have any left in the refrigerator. Undeterred you use your reverse microwave to chill one in just 45 seconds.
- Cold beer in hand you decide to watch TV, an experience made possible thanks to your new friends at Aereo who have created a way to watch live TV online.
- Unable to find anything to watch you instead decide to browse the available offerings on Netflix which you can now do easily thanks to their new user profiles.
- After watching a Louis C.K. stand up special you take out your lap top and start browsing the web. After a brief detour to an Asian porn site you stumble upon an article about acoustic levitation which totally blows your mind.
- You then continue down the rabbit hole known as the internet and come across news of an artificial leaf that might be able to power the world using photosynthesis.
- At this point you are so hyper that you know there’s just no way you are going to bed anytime soon so instead you reach for some spray on caffeine and keep going.
- Your latest search leads you to a discussion about the latest 3-D printing breakthroughs where you learn about the 3Doodler, the World’s first 3-D printing pen and…
- The Hyperform, an amazing new 3-D printing technique that allows you to print large objects.
- And that’s not all. You also find out about 4-D printing, wherein printed objects change over time!!!
- With your mind sufficiently blown you take out your new curved cell phone and start telling all your friends about all the amazing things you’ve just seen.
Discover Magazine issued a call to arms. I answered.
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