TechTheDay

Science and technology bear virtually endless possibilities. Sometimes they may just surprise you. The futuristic technologies you once thought were fictional may already be realistic technologies at present. The following are a few technologies you may not believe are already present in the current generation.

1. Personal Jet

Yes, human flight is already possible. Thank to one New Zealand based Martin Aircraft Company, personal jetpacks called the Martin Jetpack will soon become available for those who can afford to pay the $200,000 bill. The Martin Jetpack is touted as the world’s first practical jetpack. It can be flown as operated by a pilot or through remote controls. Unfortunately, the flight duration is still limited at around 30 minutes with speeds of up to 74 kilometers or around 46 miles per hour. It can fly at relative altitudes of 800 feet. While it may not look like Ironman’s super sleek flying armor, it’s a good enough first step to personal flight and is bound to only become better as technology advances.

2. Flying Cars

Who says flying cars are still an impossibility? NASA already had the technology conceptualized and tested back in 2005. They called at the it “The Highway in the Sky.” It is a computer system that facilitates the safe flight of land vehicles whenever people decides they should take the air route. Several manufacturers expressed interest in developing and producing flying cars that CBS News put up this headline: “Flying cars ready to take off.” Until now, however, flying car systems in cities have not been successfully implemented yet due a variety of challenges. Nevertheless, it’s safe to say that the technology already exists. It’s just that integrating flying cars with current transportation systems requires a lot of studies, tests, and careful planning.

3. Teleporting Machine

Make no mistake, this is not teleporting of the Star Trek type but it nevertheless is something that can be called a teleporting process. According to a study, it is possible to perform teleportation for small objects. An Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Vienna, Rupert Ursin, claims that they were able to do a quantum teleportation experiment outside a university laboratory. To clarify, this is not teleportation that moves a physical object to a remote location. In quantum teleportation, it is the quantum states of the objects that are erased and recreated in a new location. This means that a physical object (living or nonliving) cannot be teleported yet.

4. Mind Reading

The ability to read minds is coveted by many and it appears it wouldn’t be too long before technology enables it without the limitations or disadvantages. Scientists at Yale University have been able to reconstruct facial images by scanning the neural activities of human brains. This is essentially a form of mind reading and it shows promise in finally figuring out the images people have in mind. The researchers say that this new technology can help them take a peek into the minds of people with autism or those who appear incapable of interpersonal communication.

This type of mind reading is of course nowhere near the kind fictional characters like Professor X of the X-Men are capable of doing. Nevertheless, it’s getting closer to where it’s supposed to be heading. Perhaps a few years more and we should be able to extract clearer and more precise images from the brain.

5. Invisibility Cloak

This common object in fantasy movies or stories is almost impossible to realistically create. However, it appears that achieving the technology to finally realize it is no longer that far. We’ve already written a post about this before but it’s probably worth remembering how this impressive capability no longer belongs to the realms of magic and sorcery.

6. Flying Saucer

Even the possible technology behind flying saucers has already been cracked by scientists. Aesir, a British drone builder, believes that it is possible to fly flying saucers despite the seemingly restrictive aerodynamics and unlikeliness of efficiently integrating engines and thrusters in a saucer-shaped flying object. Aesir already has a prototype called Ember that demonstrates the use of the Coanda effect to enable flight.

These are just some of the many incredible technologies man has developed. More can be expected and it’s not really going to be very surprising to see many of the “hi-tech” machines and technologies depicted by science fiction movies in the past to become a reality soon.