Have you ever stumbled upon a new device you never heard of before, and instantly, it became an indispensable part of your life? You begin to wonder, where has this been, and how come I never heard of it? That experience is always blissful.
Most of the things we do every day are controlled by tech we’ve never heard of. From the smartphones in our hands to the toaster in our kitchens. The world is run by minuscule gadgets that help make our lives better but never get any credit; the unsung heroes of the tech world.
Let’s shine a light on 11 cool technologies not everyone knows about.
1. Linux
Everywhere you look (smartphones, supercomputers, dishwashers, laptops, TVs, websites, ATMs), you’ll find the Linux operating system. You wouldn’t “find” it, of course, because it runs under the hood and isn’t obvious to a casual looker.
But if you peruse the user manual of most devices you purchased, even the simple ones, you’ll find that they run on the Linux operating system. They use the Linux kernel because it’s immensely scalable, proven, and free to use. Also, it has a dedicated community of over 10,000 developers adding code and improving it every day.
2. Aerogel
Few people know about aerogel and what it can do. This bluish material might be very light — a little heavier than air — but it can protect from a sustained blast from a flamethrower.
In aerospace, it’s been used to capture interplanetary dust and comet trails. If it becomes less expensive, it would be the best house insulation possible. It has also been used for lightweight plastic replacement.
3. Graphene
Graphene is one material many people don’t know of that has a lot of potential applications. If someone can figure out how to stack its atoms quickly enough, its applications might change how we use technology.
It can be used for thermal conductivity, it has no band gap, which makes it excellent for photo-voltaic cells, and it is quite durable, being 200 times stronger than steel.
4. Content Delivery Networks
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are a worldwide network of local servers used for data exchange. Most big sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even the smaller ones use the same method to deliver information easily.
5. Bioactive Glass
This delicate technology isn’t well known, but it deserves all its accolades. Rather than schedule appointments with the doctor to carry out surgery to have hip or knee components artificially replaced, a patient can have a piece of bioactive glass surgically inserted that allows the bones to grow naturally.
The glass supplies bones with the necessary compounds and slowly dissolves without any harm. There is no risk of damage to the body if the wrong materials are chosen, as sometimes happens with the first method.
6. Invisibility Cloak
Invisibility cloaks are now possible using laser stitching techniques. Developed by scientists at the University of Cambridge, they are made up of metamaterials that can bend electromagnetic radiation — such as light — around an object, giving the impression that they aren’t there at all.
7. Speech Jammer Guns
This gun actually has the ability to stop someone from talking. The SpeechJammer was developed at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science in Japan. It works because when we speak, we listen to what we’re saying, and the way we sound dictates how we proceed with our speech.
The SpeechJammer messes with this process. It shoots your words back at you but with a delay of a few 100 milliseconds, which is enough to mess up the natural cadence. This effect is called Delayed Auditory Feedback.
8. Parkinson’s Disease Aid
Parkinson’s disease is one condition that doesn’t have simple solutions. It affects the brain and causes tremors that worsen over time. These tremors affect motor skills, but deep brain stimulation is one treatment that could help. It involves surgically implanting thin metal wires in the brain, and these wires send electrical pulses to help control the motor symptoms.
Through this method, people can get their motor skills back and might even be able to drive again. It’s basically like jumper wires for the brain. It has helped a lot of patients, but not many people know about it.
9. VANTAblack
This technology is quite cool in that it looks like the stuff of science fiction. Vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays, also known as VANTAblack, are a technology that absorbs 99.965% of radiation in the visible light spectrum, making it look completely black. It has no color, and if someone looked at it, they’d only be able to see a black hole.
The light ray that hits the VANTAblack, rather than bounce off, becomes trapped in the arrays of carbon nanotubes and eventually dissipates. This tech is usually used to prevent stray light from entering telescopes and improve infrared cameras.
10. Optical Illusions
Color TVs utilize optical illusions to make green, red, and blue dots appear to be white. They produce no actual white color, so they combine all three to trick the color sensors in the brain into believing that they’re seeing white.
To observe this, one would need a magnifying glass, or sprinkle water on the screen that is displaying the color white (phone screens, too, do this) and look. The white color breaks down into its constituents; green, red, and blue.
11. Google Traffic
Most people have heard of this technology and even use it, but not many know how it works or how it’s able to provide real-time traffic reports. The traffic data overlayed on top of the roads in different colors is crowdsourced from a large number of cell phones using GPS in a particular location.
It uses the information collected to calculate their average moving speed on the road. Then, it uses machine learning to differentiate people walking from people in vehicles.
21 Awesome Passive Income Ideas
Passive income is an excellent way to build wealth. Thankfully, many ideas only require a little money to start. Pursue these options to grow real wealth.
Best Passive Income Ideas to Build Real Wealth
How to Become Rich Quickly
Everyone wants to become rich quickly. While not always possible, there are legitimate ways to become wealthy. Follow these methods and you’ll be on the road to riches.
How to Become Rich in 9 Simple Steps
21 Best Under-the-Table Jobs That Pay Cash
Jobs that pay cash are a helpful way to help make ends meet. Thankfully, there are lots of ways to make money on the side.
Best Under-the-Table Jobs That Pay Cash
101 Ways to Make Money on the Side
There are countless side hustle ideas you can pursue. Not everyone will be a good fit for you. Here’s an exhaustive list of options to make extra money on the side.
Ways to Make Money on the Side
No Thanks, Elon: 11 Risks of Electric Cars
Electric cars are growing in popularity as a means to help the environment. However, they’re not without risk. Here are 11 risks of electric cars that may make you think twice before purchasing one.
This thread inspired this post.
I’m John Schmoll, a former stockbroker, MBA-grad, published finance writer, and founder of Frugal Rules.
As a veteran of the financial services industry, I’ve worked as a mutual fund administrator, banker, and stockbroker and was Series 7 and 63-licensed, but I left all that behind in 2012 to help people learn how to manage their money.
My goal is to help you gain the knowledge you need to become financially independent with personally-tested financial tools and money-saving solutions.
Related