The Latest in Exponential Technology Innovations

Learn about spinal implants, cheap water purification, and goldfish that dive for treasure in Israel

Michael McCarty was paralyzed from a motorcycle accident in 2017, but he's now walking thanks to a spinal cord implant. It bridges signals from his brain to his lower muscles, skipping the damaged spine, and it took just one day of stimulation. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology implanted electrodes that are placed directly onto the spinal cord using an iPad. The implants can be adjusted to support any given activity. Standing, walking, swimming, or biking - letting people stimulate their own spinal cord neurons kind of like hitting keys on a piano.

You know, water scarcity is a growing problem around the world. Desalination is the only real solution, but it's expensive. Complex creates salty byproducts that are hard to dispose of. A new desalination method has been introduced for small scale water purification. Researchers from China and MIT think their device could be commercial within just a few years. It uses sunlight for heat and natural convection made of really cheap materials its wick free, so there's no crusty buildup clogging the system. The team is now trying to scale up the device. They think they're desalination system with a surface area of just one square meter could yield enough clean water to meet a family's daily drinking needs, and it costs just $4.

Scientists in Israel have trained goldfish to drive. Say what? Yeah. Using motion sensing technology, a team at Ben-Gurion University trained fish to reach a target using a fish operated vehicle. They used food as positive reinforcement. I'm not making this up. They trained six goldfish with 10 driving lessons, and they were then able to operate a vehicle specially built for them to reach their target, regardless of the starting point while avoiding dead ends. [00:22:00] Want to learn more about exponential technologies? Read my New York Times best seller: The Truth About Your Future.