The top 10 emerging technologies of 2017

No. 1: Liquid biopsies
Imagine being able to be checked for cancer with a simple blood test. According to the WEF, “by homing in on circulating-tumor DNA (ctDNA), genetic material that routinely finds its way from cancer cells into the bloodstream, disease progression or resistance to treatment can be spotted much faster than otherwise relying on symptoms or imaging.”
(Fortune)

No. 2: Harvesting clean water from air
This isn’t a new technology per se, but existing methods require a lot of electricity. That may be changing: “A team from MIT and University of California, Berkeley has successfully tested a process using porous crystals that convert the water using no energy at all.”
(Getty Images)

No. 3: Deep learning for visual tasks
When it comes to areas like self-driving cars, insurance assessments and crop yield, computers are quickly becoming better than humans.
(Thinkstock)

No. 4: Liquid fuels from sunshine
The WEF says it’s looking more likely that humans will soon be able to replicate the process by which plants convert sunlight into energy, or photosynthesis.
(Reuters)

No. 5: The human cell atlas
The human cell atlas, according to the WEF, is, “an international collaboration aimed at deciphering the human body.” If successful, the project could lead to personalized health care.
(AP Photo/NIAID)

No. 6: Percision farming
Farming no longer consists of humans monitoring a crop and harvesting it when it’s ready. There is a host of high and low-tech aides that farmers all over the world are already starting to utilize.
(Time)

No. 7: Affordable catalysts for green vehicles
One of the big roadblocks to hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is the high price of catalysts. Many of them contain the rare and expensive metal platinum. But progress is being made and we’re closer than ever to catalysts that contain no platinum at all.
(Reuters)

No. 8: Genomic vaccines

Conventional vaccines are slow to manufacture, a big hinderence in the event of an outbreak. Production of gene-based vaccines is much faster, and according to the WEF, “enables more rapid adaptation in the event of a pathogen mutating.”
(PA Science)

No. 9: Sustainable design of communities
We all know that reducing our energy use is a key component of managing the effects of climate change. According to the WEF, “Sending locally-generated solar power to a smart microgrid could reduce electricity consumption by half and reduce carbon emissions to zero.”
(Reuters)

No. 10: Quantum computing
Conventional computers process data in a binary way. A piece of information is coded in either an on or off setting. In quantum computers, that information can exist in both the on and off settings at the same time, giving them near limitless potential. Unfortunately, they’re extremely complex and expensive. That may be changing: in 2016, “IBM provided the public access to the first quantum computer in the cloud,” says the WEF.
(Marketwired)