To the average person, it may seem that the biggest technology advances of 2015 were the larger smartphone screens and small app updates.
A broad range of technology reached a tipping point, from cool science projects or objects of convenience for the rich, to inventions that will transform humanity.
[...] the efforts of Facebook, Google, OneWeb and SpaceX to blanket the Earth with inexpensive Internet access through drones, balloons, and microsatellites will surely bear fruit.
Farmers will be able learn how to improve crop yields; artisans will gain access to global markets; and economies based on smartphone apps will flourish everywhere.
With better sensors, we can develop sophisticated medical devices, drone delivery systems and smart cities; and we can develop self-driving cars, voice-recognition systems and digital doctors.
Apple released a watch that, using a heart-rate sensor and accelerometer, can keep track of vital signs, activity and lifestyles.
Through its free Research Kit app, Apple provided the ability to monitor, on a global scale, the use of medicines and their efficacy.
Microsoft, IBM, Samsung and Google, as well as a host of startups, are developing sensors and tools to do the work of doctors.
Discovered by scientists only a few years ago, CRISPRs are elements of an ancient system that protects bacteria and other single-celled organisms from viruses, acquiring immunity to them by incorporating genetic elements from the virus invaders.
DNA can be edited, either removing unwanted sequences or inserting payload sequences, the genetic and chemical components necessary costing as little as $100.
[...] they could also be used to correct faulty DNA that’s responsible for genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia and Alzheimer’s, and to edit the genes of plants to produce more-nutritious food and require less water.
[...] they will monitor traffic and crime, perform building inspections and provide emergency assistance in disasters.
Large sections of Africa don’t have roads; remote towns and villages can’t get medical supplies; and large cities are clogged with traffic — much of it for delivery of small goods.
The biggest geopolitical breakthrough in clean energy in 2015 wasn’t the climate agreement in Paris, between 196 countries, to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide.
By 2030, solar capture could provide 100 percent of today’s energy; by 2035, it could be free, just as cell phone calls are today.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that the extension of the credits will add an extra 20 gigawatts of solar power — more than every panel ever installed in the U.S. prior to 2015.
