Break on through to the other side: MIT’s top technologies that directly address climate emergency, pandemic recovery and automation
MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough technologies for 2021 are a fascinating list - some of great urgency and relevance (picked out and listed below), some not quite so momentous (Tik Tok recommendation algorithms had us scratching our heads). But looking at them overall, it’s hard not be a little optimistic that human ingenuity and invention is beginning to collectively respond to some major existential challenges - a disrupted biosphere (whether pandemic or global warming) and the energy shift it demands, and the revolutions of automation/information tech.
Messenger RNA vaccines
“The two most effective vaccines against the coronavirus are based on messenger RNA, a technology that has been in the works for 20 years.
“When the covid-19 pandemic began last January, scientists at several biotech companies were quick to turn to mRNA as a way to create potential vaccines; in late December 2020, at a time when more than 1.5 million had died from covid-19 worldwide, the vaccines were approved in the US, marking the beginning of the end of the pandemic.
“The new covid vaccines are based on a technology never before used in therapeutics, and it could transform medicine, leading to vaccines against various infectious diseases, including malaria. And if this coronavirus keeps mutating, mRNA vaccines can be easily and quickly modified.
“Messenger RNA also holds great promise as the basis for cheap gene fixes to sickle-cell disease and HIV. Also in the works: using mRNA to help the body fight off cancers. Antonio Regalado explains the history and medical potential of the exciting new science of messenger RNA.”
Green hydrogen
As nations do the hard math on how to meet their climate goals, green hydrogen increasingly appears essential.
Hydrogen has always been an intriguing possible replacement for fossil fuels. It burns cleanly, emitting no carbon dioxide; it’s energy dense, so it’s a good way to store power from on-and-off renewable sources; and you can make liquid synthetic fuels that are drop-in replacements for gasoline or diesel.
But most hydrogen up to now has been made from natural gas; the process is dirty and energy intensive.
The rapidly dropping cost of solar and wind power means green hydrogen is now cheap enough to be practical. Simply zap water with electricity, and presto, you’ve got hydrogen.
Europe is leading the way, beginning to build the needed infrastructure. Peter Fairley argues that such projects are just a first step to an envisioned global network of electrolysis plants that run on solar and wind power, churning out clean hydrogen.
More: Carbon Brief Q&A on whether the world needs hydrogen for climate change
Data trusts
Technology companies have proven to be poor stewards of our personal data. Our information has been leaked, hacked, and sold and resold more times than most of us can count. Maybe the problem isn’t with us, but with the model of privacy to which we’ve long adhered—one in which we, as individuals, are primarily responsible for managing and protecting our own privacy.
Data trusts offer one alternative approach that some governments are starting to explore. A data trust is a legal entity that collects and manages people’s personal data on their behalf. Though the structure and function of these trusts are still being defined, and many questions remain, data trusts are notable for offering a potential solution to long-standing problems in privacy and security. Anouk Ruhaak describes the powerful potential of this model and a few early examples that show its promise.
More: Common Wealth on data trusts
Lithium-metal batteries
Electric vehicles come with a tough sales pitch; they’re relatively expensive, and you can drive them only a few hundred miles before they need to recharge—which takes far longer than stopping for fuel.
All these drawbacks have to do with the limitations of lithium-ion batteries. A well-funded Silicon Valley startup now says it has a battery that will make electric vehicles far more palatable for the mass consumer.
It’s called a lithium-metal battery and is being developed by QuantumScape. According to early test results, the battery could boost the range of an EV by 80% and can be rapidly recharged. The startup has a deal with VW, which says it will be selling EVs with the new type of battery by 2025.
The battery is still just a prototype that’s much smaller than one needed for a car. But if QuantumScape and others working on lithium-metal batteries succeed, it could finally make EVs attractive to millions of consumers. James Temple describes how a lithium-metal battery works, and why scientists are so excited by recent results.
More: Wired on this as a solution to a forty-year old battery problem