1.Prologue In late 1990,war in the Persian Gulf loomed beyond a January deadline for lraq to pull its invading forces back from Kuwait.On the front lines of the buildup leading to Operation Desert Storm,American troop...1.Prologue In late 1990,war in the Persian Gulf loomed beyond a January deadline for lraq to pull its invading forces back from Kuwait.On the front lines of the buildup leading to Operation Desert Storm,American troops began asking their families back home to shop local marine supply stores for commercial satellite navigation receivers and to mail the devices to them in the Middle East.A groundbreaking satellite constellation that the US military had been developing for decades to provide the nation's troops with global navigation data still lacked about a third of its full count of spacecraft.展开更多
With the launch of a satellite in June 2020(Fig.1),China completed BeiDou("Big Dipper"),its global navigation satellite system(GNSS),a work-in-progress for the last 20 years[1].BeiDou’s fully operational de...With the launch of a satellite in June 2020(Fig.1),China completed BeiDou("Big Dipper"),its global navigation satellite system(GNSS),a work-in-progress for the last 20 years[1].BeiDou’s fully operational debut coincides with the rapid buildup in the past decade of the European Union’s GNSS,Galileo,with 22 operational satellites at the close of 2020(Fig.2),as well as upgrades to Russia’s GNSS,GLONASS,which attained full operation over the last eight years after shrinking to only seven satellites in 2002[2].Now,after more than two decades of,for the most part,only the 24–31 satellites of the US Global Positioning System(GPS)serving as global reference points of position and time for terrestrial GNSS users planet-wide,these newer systems and upgrades have dramatically increased the density of coverage by navigation satellites of nearly every square meter of Earth.展开更多
In November 2019,one of the first approved human trials of the gene-editing technology“CRISPR”reported dramatically positive results in each of the two initial patients given a single round of therapy[1].Both patien...In November 2019,one of the first approved human trials of the gene-editing technology“CRISPR”reported dramatically positive results in each of the two initial patients given a single round of therapy[1].Both patients suffered from a painful,life-threatening,inherited blood disease and had received an infusion of billions of their own hematopoietic stem cells.These precursor blood cells had been altered with CRISPR to produce disease-free blood cells.展开更多
During a test flight off Norway’s coast,a team of wind-energy pioneers watched as what looked like a very big toy plane took off from the bobbing,jumbo-sized buoy to which it remained tethered(Fig.1).To safely land t...During a test flight off Norway’s coast,a team of wind-energy pioneers watched as what looked like a very big toy plane took off from the bobbing,jumbo-sized buoy to which it remained tethered(Fig.1).To safely land the nearly 2-ton[1],experimental drone back onto its floating base-station,the vehicle’s automatic flight control system would have to guide it through maneuvers that a wind-energy leader compared to“trying to parallel park a car with the curb shifting forward,backward,up and down”[2].展开更多
Vehicle makers worldwide are betting big on electric vehicles(EVs).With nations globally mandating sharp reductions in gasoline-powered transportation[1,2],most leading vehicle manufacturers,including Volkswagen,Gener...Vehicle makers worldwide are betting big on electric vehicles(EVs).With nations globally mandating sharp reductions in gasoline-powered transportation[1,2],most leading vehicle manufacturers,including Volkswagen,General Motors(GM),Honda,Daimler,Ford,Volvo,and Nissan—among others—have announced moves to make EVs only or to build them in significantly greater numbers[3–9].With rapid,international growth and standardization of charging infrastructure,technological improvements,favorable policies,and falling prices[2,10,11],EVs are approaching a critical threshold.Beyond it,their convenience(the ease of recharging their batteries when needed),range(on a fully charged battery),longevity(tied mainly to battery-pack lifetime),and performance are expected to pull ahead of equivalent metrics for comparably priced internal combustion engine(ICE)-powered vehicles.展开更多
Kansas City, Missouri, is not a place most Americans would consider a trend setter. But amid surging global enthusiasm for electric vehicles (EVs), this midsize city located in the middle of the continental United Sta...Kansas City, Missouri, is not a place most Americans would consider a trend setter. But amid surging global enthusiasm for electric vehicles (EVs), this midsize city located in the middle of the continental United States is helping lead the charge. It owes its new reputation as the "EV Mecca of the Midwest" to its electrical utility Evergy (formerly Kansas City Power and Light Company), which joined forces in 2015 with EV charging station manufacturer ChargePoint to install 1000 publicly accessible chargers throughout the Kansas City area [1,2] (Fig. 1).展开更多
In its Top 10 Emerging Technologies report published in November 2020,the World Economic Forum-advised by experts convened by the journal Scientific American-placed“Microneedles for Painless Injections and Tests”at ...In its Top 10 Emerging Technologies report published in November 2020,the World Economic Forum-advised by experts convened by the journal Scientific American-placed“Microneedles for Painless Injections and Tests”at the head of its list[1].It chose innovations to include“for their potential to spur progress in societies and economies by outperforming established ways of doing things”and their likely“major impact within the next three to five years,”despite not currently being in wide use.展开更多
On 26 August 2020,following unexpectedly strong,post-initiallockdown resurgences of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in the late spring and summer,the medical-manufacturer giant Abbott and the US federal government a...On 26 August 2020,following unexpectedly strong,post-initiallockdown resurgences of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in the late spring and summer,the medical-manufacturer giant Abbott and the US federal government announced approval,for emergency use in public health efforts to control the pandemic,of a new diagnostic testing device the size of a credit card and costing only 5 USD apiece[1].Moreover,the federal government would spend 760 million USD to purchase 150 million of the tests and begin shipping them to nursing homes and schools roughly a month later[2].展开更多
In January 2020,a rumor from California in the United States reached researchers and entrepreneurs in Europe,a thriving hub for the small mostly trans-Atiantic field of engineering researdhand development called airbo...In January 2020,a rumor from California in the United States reached researchers and entrepreneurs in Europe,a thriving hub for the small mostly trans-Atiantic field of engineering researdhand development called airborne wind energy(AWE):Alphabet,American tednology giant Google's parent company,was quietlyclosing down Makani,the AWE subsidiary it had nurtured into theworld's most advanced,visible,and well-funded enterprise designing and building tethered flying madhines-kites in AWE parlance-intended ultimately to produce megawatts of wind energy.展开更多
On 9 September 2016,global Internet data traffic flew past the milestone of 1 ZB,or 1021 bytes-a trillion gigabytes-per year.If you imagine every one of those gigabytes as a brick,a trillion of them would allow you to...On 9 September 2016,global Internet data traffic flew past the milestone of 1 ZB,or 1021 bytes-a trillion gigabytes-per year.If you imagine every one of those gigabytes as a brick,a trillion of them would allow you to build 258 Great Walls of China,one analyst estimated[1].It took nearly 40 years for the Internet to hit that mark.By 2022,annual Internet traffic is expected to reach almost 5 ZB[2].展开更多
文摘1.Prologue In late 1990,war in the Persian Gulf loomed beyond a January deadline for lraq to pull its invading forces back from Kuwait.On the front lines of the buildup leading to Operation Desert Storm,American troops began asking their families back home to shop local marine supply stores for commercial satellite navigation receivers and to mail the devices to them in the Middle East.A groundbreaking satellite constellation that the US military had been developing for decades to provide the nation's troops with global navigation data still lacked about a third of its full count of spacecraft.
文摘With the launch of a satellite in June 2020(Fig.1),China completed BeiDou("Big Dipper"),its global navigation satellite system(GNSS),a work-in-progress for the last 20 years[1].BeiDou’s fully operational debut coincides with the rapid buildup in the past decade of the European Union’s GNSS,Galileo,with 22 operational satellites at the close of 2020(Fig.2),as well as upgrades to Russia’s GNSS,GLONASS,which attained full operation over the last eight years after shrinking to only seven satellites in 2002[2].Now,after more than two decades of,for the most part,only the 24–31 satellites of the US Global Positioning System(GPS)serving as global reference points of position and time for terrestrial GNSS users planet-wide,these newer systems and upgrades have dramatically increased the density of coverage by navigation satellites of nearly every square meter of Earth.
文摘In November 2019,one of the first approved human trials of the gene-editing technology“CRISPR”reported dramatically positive results in each of the two initial patients given a single round of therapy[1].Both patients suffered from a painful,life-threatening,inherited blood disease and had received an infusion of billions of their own hematopoietic stem cells.These precursor blood cells had been altered with CRISPR to produce disease-free blood cells.
文摘During a test flight off Norway’s coast,a team of wind-energy pioneers watched as what looked like a very big toy plane took off from the bobbing,jumbo-sized buoy to which it remained tethered(Fig.1).To safely land the nearly 2-ton[1],experimental drone back onto its floating base-station,the vehicle’s automatic flight control system would have to guide it through maneuvers that a wind-energy leader compared to“trying to parallel park a car with the curb shifting forward,backward,up and down”[2].
文摘Vehicle makers worldwide are betting big on electric vehicles(EVs).With nations globally mandating sharp reductions in gasoline-powered transportation[1,2],most leading vehicle manufacturers,including Volkswagen,General Motors(GM),Honda,Daimler,Ford,Volvo,and Nissan—among others—have announced moves to make EVs only or to build them in significantly greater numbers[3–9].With rapid,international growth and standardization of charging infrastructure,technological improvements,favorable policies,and falling prices[2,10,11],EVs are approaching a critical threshold.Beyond it,their convenience(the ease of recharging their batteries when needed),range(on a fully charged battery),longevity(tied mainly to battery-pack lifetime),and performance are expected to pull ahead of equivalent metrics for comparably priced internal combustion engine(ICE)-powered vehicles.
文摘Kansas City, Missouri, is not a place most Americans would consider a trend setter. But amid surging global enthusiasm for electric vehicles (EVs), this midsize city located in the middle of the continental United States is helping lead the charge. It owes its new reputation as the "EV Mecca of the Midwest" to its electrical utility Evergy (formerly Kansas City Power and Light Company), which joined forces in 2015 with EV charging station manufacturer ChargePoint to install 1000 publicly accessible chargers throughout the Kansas City area [1,2] (Fig. 1).
文摘In its Top 10 Emerging Technologies report published in November 2020,the World Economic Forum-advised by experts convened by the journal Scientific American-placed“Microneedles for Painless Injections and Tests”at the head of its list[1].It chose innovations to include“for their potential to spur progress in societies and economies by outperforming established ways of doing things”and their likely“major impact within the next three to five years,”despite not currently being in wide use.
文摘On 26 August 2020,following unexpectedly strong,post-initiallockdown resurgences of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in the late spring and summer,the medical-manufacturer giant Abbott and the US federal government announced approval,for emergency use in public health efforts to control the pandemic,of a new diagnostic testing device the size of a credit card and costing only 5 USD apiece[1].Moreover,the federal government would spend 760 million USD to purchase 150 million of the tests and begin shipping them to nursing homes and schools roughly a month later[2].
文摘In January 2020,a rumor from California in the United States reached researchers and entrepreneurs in Europe,a thriving hub for the small mostly trans-Atiantic field of engineering researdhand development called airborne wind energy(AWE):Alphabet,American tednology giant Google's parent company,was quietlyclosing down Makani,the AWE subsidiary it had nurtured into theworld's most advanced,visible,and well-funded enterprise designing and building tethered flying madhines-kites in AWE parlance-intended ultimately to produce megawatts of wind energy.
文摘On 9 September 2016,global Internet data traffic flew past the milestone of 1 ZB,or 1021 bytes-a trillion gigabytes-per year.If you imagine every one of those gigabytes as a brick,a trillion of them would allow you to build 258 Great Walls of China,one analyst estimated[1].It took nearly 40 years for the Internet to hit that mark.By 2022,annual Internet traffic is expected to reach almost 5 ZB[2].
