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Five Most Recent Technologies That Have Significant Impacts on the World

 

From thousands of years ago until now, we humans have always tried to develop and experiment with new things. In today’s world, improving technology is part of our lives, especially in the recent decades and a great example is the Internet. It had a global influence and opened a completely new world for us. The internet made new job opportunities and provided a great place for creativity. It also derived many new technologies such as social media.
In this article, we are going to introduce five recent technologies that are having and going to have enormous impacts on us. These five technologies are: Generative AI, Enhanced Solar Panels, CRISPR-based Treatment, Exascale Supercomputers, and AI-Powered Scientific Discovery.
 1. Generative AI
Generative AI includes models like ChatGPT and DALL-E, is revolutionizing various industries by it abilities such as creating text, images and videos from simple prompts. The concept of making AI is not new. It has been around for decades now and dates to the 1960s. An example of early chatbots include ELIZA. In 2014, AI became significantly popular and advanced to a whole another level. Companies that played crucial roles in the development of AI are OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. The AI concept received international attention afterthe introduction of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). As of August 2024, AI is strongly being developed and has gained fame and attention for its astonishing abilities.
Just like any other thing, AI has its critics too. Many people believe and are worried that AI will replace them. It is a common worry for people these days that someday their jobs will be replaced by AI. There are different discussion and debates going on about the negative and positive points of AI, however none of them are meant to prevent this technology from development. Most of these discussions are centered around building a set of rules and ethics for the AI to prevent misinformation and misuse. It is believed that we cannot prevent technologies like AI to not improve, but we need to learn to use them for our own development.
 2. Enhanced Solar Panels
Using green energy is becoming more and more popular as the environmental crises increase and become more urgent. Fossil fuels and non-renewable energy have negative impacts on the environment and are encouraged to be replaced by renewable and eco-friendly energy. Using solar panels generates electricity with the help of the sun. One of the recent developments involves adding layers of tiny crystals also called perovskites to the old version of solar panels. This new technology is said to improve the efficiency of solar panels. The first practical photovoltaic (PV) cell was developed in 1954 by Bell Telephone researchers. Recent advancements, such as the use of perovskites, have been made in the last decade. These types of technologies help us to protect our environment and encourage others to do the same.
 3. CRISPR-Based Treatment     
CRISPR technology provides the opportunity to edit DNA. This advancement has made significant strides in the medical field. Recently approved treatments using CRISPR can cure genetic diseases like sickle-cell anemia. This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize medicine by providing cures for previously untreatable genetic disorders, leading to improved health outcomes and quality of life for millions of people. The CRISPR-Cas9 system was first described in 2012 by Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier. The first CRISPR-based treatment was approved in 2023.
 4. Exascale Supercomputers   
Exascale supercomputers, capable of performing over an exaflop (a quintillion calculations per second), are pushing the boundaries of computational power. These machines enable advanced simulations and research in fields such as climate science, nuclear fission, and materials science. The ability to process vast amounts of data at unprecedented speeds can lead to breakthroughs in scientific research and technological development. The concept of exascale computing has been pursued since the early 2000s. The first exascale computer, Frontier, was announced in 2022.
5. AI-Powered Scientific Discovery 
AI is increasingly being used to accelerate scientific discovery. By analyzing large datasets and identifying patterns, AI can help researchers make new discoveries in health, communication, infrastructure, sustainability and many other fields. For example, AI algorithms can predict the structure of proteins, leading to new drug discoveries or optimize supply chains to reduce waste and improve efficiency. AI has been used in scientific discovery since the 2010s, with significant advancements in the last few years.
These are the five recent technology advancements that are having huge impacts on various fields. There have been different types of reactions to them. Some positive and some not so positive, but it is doesn’t change the main concept that the technology is constantly improving and changing. 


By M. Nargis

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