spatiotemporal channel/tracks of Driverless cars

spatiotemporal channel/tracks of Driverless cars should be developed.

The Open University should be implemented in WeChat-like cell phone systems, anytime to study.

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Predictions for 2018: How science and technology will affect us all

What are the advances in science and technology that could shape our lives in 2018 and beyond?

 

BBC Tomorrow's World partners The Open University, the Royal Society, Science Museum and Wellcome have dusted off their crystal balls to look at what next year could hold.

Science Museum: Driverless cars

Driverless cars may be a few years away, but in 2018 the automation levels of cars will quickly accelerate.

 

We will experience something more like a driverless car for the first time and start to question their possible impact on our daily lives.

You may already have a car with driverless capabilities. Perhaps cruise control for those long motorway journeys or driving assist for that tight parking space.

In 2018 we will see the release of cars with a much higher level of autonomy. Audi and Tesla are aiming to release cars that can drive themselves with the provisos of a clear road and a low speed limit. But don’t start thinking you can take a morning nap on your way to work, this level of automation still relies on human intervention if conditions change or problems arise.

Direct Line, a car insurance company in the UK, will offer a discount to anyone who uses the autopilot technology in some Tesla models. The insurer is hoping to gather information about how the technology is used.

Coming to a road near you

Public road testing will be escalating across the UK and beyond in 2018. There’ll be closed road trials in Oxfordshire, fleets of lorries driving by themselves on the motorway, and safety drivers taking a back seat in driverless cars in Arizona.

If watching road tests sounds a bit boring, you can always take a trip to Bavaria, Las Vegas or Lyon to ride in a driverless shuttle bus.

While 2018 could be the year we start seeing a lot more driverless tech, the road to fully automated cars will be bumpy. Volvo’s “Drive Me” scheme, road testing with families, was due to start testing its driverless car tech, but this has been pushed back to 2021.

What will a world with fully driverless cars look like? Will we ever see totally automated vehicles on the road? The possibility is getting closer and 2018 will see the biggest advances in driverless cars yet.

Royal Society: Genome engineering

Genome editing has the potential to radically alter how we can treat illness and disease, but it comes with its own dangers.

 

Essentially the process allows us to replace a faulty DNA gene with a healthy one, or even edit the gene to make it behave differently.

It is "an impact of biological science that has huge potential ramifications," Royal Society fellow Sir John Skehel has said.

Millions of lives

The scope for treatments for genetically inherited conditions is clear. If scientists can edit genes to remove the inherited error, they could be able to stop the development of the conditions.

But, there are downsides to the discovery. For example, if we were to edit genes for cosmetic purposes we could cause unforeseen damage.

Science can show humanity what genetic technologies are capable of, but it’s up to us to choose how we want to use it.

Either way, the growth in genome editing is one of the most significant advances in biological science with the capacity to impact millions of people’s lives.

Open University: Interstellar comets and the end of Project Fear

Prof Simon Bell, Professor of Innovation and Methodology

 

The end of Project Fear. 2017 has seen a wave of populist responses to threat and anxiety - often promulgated and reinforced by social media manipulation.

In 2018 there will be a push back against this as the attenuating cycle of fear response picks up speed - expect to see social media pushing back with figures emerging with empowering messages of holism and rational response to unstructured worry.

Prof Carole Haswell, Professor of Astrophysics & Head of Astronomy

I think medical data / medical imaging & interpretation / personalised biometrics and health management will have an increasing impact

Prof Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences

Maybe a big meteorite will fall and rock civilisation to its foundations? Maybe the interstellar comet will come back and we’ll find that it is a spaceship full of aliens.

Dr Mark Hirst, Senior Lecturer in Biology

2018 will see Genomics England deliver the genome sequences of 100,000 UK citizens into the hands of the health service, clinical and basic science research teams.

Seemingly impossible just a few years ago, its delivery places the UK as the world leading centre for genome research, with a system being put in place to begin the task of translating the many billions of gene variant sequences into clinically useful tests – diagnostic and prognostic.

Generation genome, as envisioned by the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, will finally truly have arrived in 2018 - exciting times lie ahead as new genomic targets become ‘drugable’ with the gene therapist’s tool kit.

Prof David Male, Professor of Biology

A major development on the horizon is the treatment by gene-therapy of diseases that affect the nervous system and which are the result of a single gene defect.

It will not affect everyone, as each of these conditions is quite rare. However it will have an enormous effect on families that are carrying the defective genes.

Dr Sheona Urquhart, Staff Tutor in Physical Sciences

Development of efficient and affordable storage and access to electricity generated by non carbon based technologies, impacting through environmental improvements and maybe even affordable electricity!

Wellcome: Epidemics and fighting antibiotic resistance

In 2018, the world will mark the centenary of the Spanish flu pandemic, which killed at least 50 million people.

 

Science and medicine have seen many incredible innovations and discoveries to improve health over the past century.

But in 2018, the threat of globally-spreading diseases which could affect millions of people remains - and has never been greater.

Epidemics like Ebola and Zika have shown the significant threats we continue to face from infectious disease outbreaks.

2018 will be an important year for continued efforts to better protect us and to ensure all countries can act quickly to contain outbreaks of deadly infection and prevent health emergencies.

This includes work to save more lives through development of new vaccines. Many of the epidemic diseases we know pose the greatest threat could be prevented with vaccines, but very few vaccines have been developed against these diseases.

Resistance spreads

2018 will also be a critical year for continued global efforts to tackle another urgent global health problem – superbugs.

Antibiotics have been a vital part of modern medicine for more than 70 years. However, there are a rapidly rising number of superbugs, or drug-resistant infections, which can no longer be treated by the antibiotics we have today.

Around the world these drug-resistant infections already kill 700,000 people a year. Without effective action this number will continue to rise and previously treatable infections and routine surgery - like hip replacements and caesareans - will be potentially fatal.

The next 12 months will be critical for continued efforts to develop new antibiotics and innovative treatments to protect us from superbugs, work to stop overuse and misuse of our existing antibiotics, and research to help us better understand how resistance spreads.