World Economic Forum’s “Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2021” report marks its 10th anniversary edition, listing new technologies ready to impact the world in the next three to five years. Experts gathered by the World Economic Forum and Scientific American highlight technological advancements that could revolutionize agriculture, healthcare, and space. Among the technologies on the list are self-fertilizing crops, on-demand drug production, breath sensing diagnostics, and 3D printed homes.
At COP26, countries committed to new and ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions over this decade. Meeting these pledges will depend on the development and scaling of green technologies.
Two such technologies aimed at making agriculture more sustainable—“green” ammonia production and engineering products that create their fertilizers—have made it onto this year’s list of emerging technologies.
Here are those technologies!
1- Decarbonization is Rising
For a century now, since scientists proposed that excess carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere causes it to trap heat and warms the planet, there has been a global effort to promote decarbonization in every area of daily life. Governments and industries have made commitments that open new frontiers for reducing carbon emissions.
Fulfilling these commitments is planned to lead, in the next three to five years, to unprecedented innovation and large-scale energy storage, low/carbon-free chemical feedstocks, revitalized rail transportation, carbon capture, low-carbon agriculture, zero-emission vehicles and power sources, along with global compliance monitoring agreed upon.
2- Plants that Produce Their Fertilizer
Today, the world uses more than 110 million tons of nitrogen fertilizers annually to increase crop production. What if crops could “fix” nitrogen like legumes do, capturing it on their own in the form of ammonia? As one of the best emerging technologies, researchers are now developing technologies to enable corn and other crops to self-fertilize as well.
In one approach, researchers are attempting to mimic the symbiotic molecular communication between legumes and bacteria to form root nodules, which are natural fertilizer factories. In another, soil bacteria that normally colonize grain roots (but do not form nodules) are being taught to produce nitrogenase, a key component that converts atmospheric nitrogen into plant-compatible ammonia.
3- Diagnosing Diseases by Just Blowing Air
Recently, testing for disease could be as simple as having patients exhale. New breath sensors can diagnose diseases by sampling concentrations of over 800 compounds present in human breath. For example, a chemical compound found in high amounts in human breath, acetone, indicates diabetes. The sensors look for changes in electrical resistance as breath compounds flow through a metal-oxide semiconductor. Algorithms then analyze the sensor data. While this emerging technology needs further refinements before widespread adoption, in a study conducted in Wuhan, China, in March 2020, the sensors achieved an extraordinary 95% accuracy in detecting COVID-19 and 100% sensitivity in distinguishing patients.
Photo: Reuters/Chen Lin
4- On-Demand Drug Production
Today, drugs are typically produced in large batches through a multi-step process that is spread across various locations around the world. Completing this process, which involves hundreds of tons of materials, can take months and presents challenges for consistency and reliable supply. Advancements in microfluidics and on-demand drug production now enable the production of a small but increasing number of common pharmaceuticals as needed.
The process, also known as continuous flow production, transfers materials through tubes to small reaction chambers. Drugs can be made in portable machines that deliver doses tailored to individual patients, with the challenge being to reduce the high cost of this emerging technology.
5- Energy from Wireless Signals
The Internet of Things (IoT) consists of billions of electronic devices that leverage internet connectivity for various functionalities. IoT sensors, typically low-power devices that report critical data for our daily lives, are challenging to keep charged due to limited battery lives, and local environments often do not allow for physical contact once installed.
With 5G now providing sufficiently powerful wireless signals, small antennas within IoT sensors can “harvest” energy from such signals. A pioneer of this emerging technology has long been automated “tags” supported by radio signals emitted when drivers pass through toll booths.
6- Designing for a Longer “Lifespan”
According to the World Health Organization, the proportion of the global population aged 60 and older is expected to nearly double from 12% to 22% between 2015 and 2050. The concept of aging is associated with both acute and chronic ailments such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and heart disease.
Researchers have begun developing technologies that can help us lead not only longer but also healthier lives by gaining early insights into the molecular mechanisms of aging. Utilizing omics technologies (which can measure the activities of all genes in a cell or the concentrations of all proteins simultaneously) and insights from epigenetics, researchers can identify biological markers that are strong predictors of disease and offer targets for proactive treatments.
7- Ammonia is Returning to Nature
To feed the world, crops often need fertilizers produced from ammonia—many are made from ammonia. Synthesizing ammonia for fertilizers involves an energy-intensive process requiring large amounts of hydrogen feedstock known as the Haber-Bosch process. Today, most hydrogen is produced through electrolysis, which involves splitting water molecules using electrical power or breaking down hydrocarbons at high temperatures. The energy required to perform either of these methods currently results in large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
As renewable energy sources become more widespread, a type of “green” hydrogen is being produced without greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond eliminating excess atmospheric carbon, green hydrogen is stripped of pollutants that would otherwise be incorporated when using fossil fuels as a feedstock. This purity allows for more efficient catalysis in ammonia production.
8- Biomarker Devices are Going Wireless
No one enjoys needles. However, tracking critical biomarkers needed to monitor progress in common acute and chronic conditions such as cancer treatments, diabetes, and others often requires frequent blood draws. Advances in low-power wireless communications, along with new chemical sensing techniques using both optical and electronic probes, enable continuous, intervention-free monitoring of critical medical information.
With over 100 companies focusing on diabetes in light of its global prevalence, they are establishing or developing wireless biomarker detection devices across various applications. Wireless connectivity allows for immediate access to data, enabling remote physicians to intervene if necessary.
9- Homes 3D Printed with Local Materials
Using large-scale 3D printers to manufacture homes is already being done on a limited scale in the U.S. and other developed countries. In the developing world, where limited infrastructure makes material transport challenging, recent demonstrations using 3D printers are stepping up by using locally sourced materials such as clay, sand, and local fibers to print structures, eliminating approximately 95% of the material normally taken to the construction site.
This emerging technology could provide sturdy shelters in remote areas where the need for housing is very high, and there are no viable transportation networks. The result could change the game for nations that are often left behind.
Photo: Judith Jockel / The Guardian
10- Space Connecting the World
Internet of Things (IoT) sensors can capture and report vital information about weather, soil conditions, moisture levels, crop health, social activities, and countless other valuable data sets. With the recent emergence of numerous low-cost microsatellites that can globally capture this type of data from low Earth orbit and download it to centralized facilities for processing, IoT is poised to deliver unprecedented levels of global understanding, covering regions of the developing world that have traditionally lacked access to conventional internet infrastructure. Challenges such as low-power secure data connections and the issue of short-lived low-Earth orbit satellites persist, but steady progress promises global distribution in the next three to five years.
SOURCE: World Economic Forum (WEF)
