Simon Torok - Imagining the Future: Invisibility, Immortality and 40 Other Incredible Ideas

IMAGINING

THE

FUTURE

Dedication

To Tessa Torok ST

To Kate and Sarah Holper PH

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Andrew and Mitzi Forgas, Matilda Torok, John Stewart and Sarah Holper for ideas, Paul Torok for school student input, and Scott Power for statistical assistance. Thank you to Kath Kovac, Janet and Sarah Holper, Helen Doyle and Russell Cockman for helpful review comments. And thanks to Briana Melideo at CSIRO Publishing for her ideas and guidance.

IMAGINING

THE

FUTURE

Invisibility, Immortality
and 40 Other Incredible Ideas

Simon Torok and Paul Holper

Simon Torok and Paul Holper 2016

All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO Publishing for all permission requests.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry

Torok, Simon, author.

Imagining the future : invisibility, immortality and 40 other incredible ideas / Simon Torok and Paul Holper.

9781486302727 (paperback)

9781486302734 (epdf)

9781486302741 (epub)

For ages 913.

Technological innovations Juvenile literature.

Inventions Juvenile literature.

Science Juvenile literature.

Holper, Paul N., 1957 author.

Published by

CSIRO Publishing

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Clayton South VIC 3169

Australia

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Illustrations by Thomson Digital

Set in 9.5/13 Helvetica Neue

Edited by Dr Kath Kovac

Cover design by Alicia Freile, Tango Media

Text design and typeset by James Kelly

Printed in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd

CSIRO Publishing publishes and distributes scientific, technical and health science books, magazines and journals from Australia to a worldwide audience and conducts these activities autonomously from the research activities of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of, and should not be attributed to, the publisher or CSIRO. The copyright owner shall not be liable for technical or other errors or omissions contained herein. The reader/user accepts all risks and responsibility for losses, damages, costs and other consequences resulting directly or indirectly from using this information.

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Foreword

THE FUTURE IS AWESOME, ITS ALREADY HERE AND IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER.

Scientific journals are packed with evidence to support this optimism, but heres my favourite example. When I started working in the laser industry as a young physicist, the idea of growing a crystal that efficiently converts electrical energy to bright blue light seemed like a distant if not impossible dream. Less than 20 years later, three Japanese scientists shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for making this quantum mechanical magic trick come true. Their invention, the blue light-emitting diode, now illuminates the colour screen on your smart phone, computer and a kazillion other devices you interact with every day. I even own a blue laser diode, and its impossible to exaggerate how amazing that is.

The future promises a treasure trove of incredible discoveries: from the nature of dark energy and dark matter to unimagined new materials, from faster computers and novel nanotechnology to unprecedented amounts of big data, from remote sensors to the Internet of Things, from cleaner energy to better medicine and healthcare and much, much more amazingness that simply cannot be predicted today.

But there is an if to all this optimism, and its a big one. We need more kids to get hooked on science and mathematics and to believe in their own ability to make these dreams come true. Simon and Paul are expert guides to this fantastic future. This terrific book will teach you how to dream big while keeping both your feet planted firmly on the ground.

Enjoy the ride!

Ruben Meerman

ABCs Surfing Scientist

Contents

Are you ready for the future?

Were living in a rapidly changing world. Around the year 1900, the amount of human knowledge doubled every 100 years. It now doubles almost every year, and by 2020 could double every day. This means that a lot of what students starting a university degree learn in their first year will be outdated by the time they finish. When most of todays students in primary school grow up, theyll have jobs that dont exist right now. Theyll be using technologies that havent been invented to solve things that we dont know are problems yet.