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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

20 innovations for 2015

In this series from the Observer Tech Monthly we meet the creative minds of 2015, and the brilliant ideas that will shape the future, from the company turning waste heat into cheap electricity to a certain Mr Dyson (son of) who’s invented a new kind of light. Compiled by Killian Fox

11 December 2014

  • TransferWise

    A foreign currency exchange service with a twist – it doesn’t exchange any money

  • Nelly Ben Hayoun in Nasa Ames Research Center

    Disaster Playground: how we would deal with a planet-killer asteroid?

  • Oculus Rift

    Virtual reality headsets: How Oculus Rift has started a games revolution

  • WhatsApp

    Worried about leaky chats? Messaging apps are responding with security features

10 December 2014

  • Sense

    Sense: A gadget to change the way we sleep

    James Proud’s sleep monitoring device is a step beyond those on the market, sensing a range of environmental factors to help you get a better night’s sleep
  • Lab-grown blood would take enormous pressure off of the transfusion service

    Blood grown from stem cells could transform transfusions

    Stem-cell technology is being used to grow fresh human blood in the laboratory – but don’t hand in your donor card just yet
  • Jake Dyson in front of his Ariel LED lamp.

    Bright spark Jake Dyson has designed an LED light that lasts for 40 years

    The light, called Ariel, has taken four years to get its performance to the standard Dyson, son of Sir James, wanted

9 December 2014

  • Strati, 3D printed car

    The Strati: a 3D-printed electric car that could be built in 24 hours

    Eventually 3D-printed cars could be designed with their local environment in mind, such as extreme cold weather or the desert
  • IBM

    IBM’s SyNAPSE chip: creating a neural computer like your brain

    Technology giant IBM is developing a new type of chip to help computers think like humans
  • Apple CEO Tim Cook

    2015 will be the year wearable tech gets under the skin

    The next wave of wearables, from smartwatches and ‘smart’ clothes to health trackers

8 December 2014

  • robot shop assistant

    Will robot shop assistants spell the end for shop work?

  • Joachim Horn with the SAM system of electronic building blocks

    Coding is made child’s play by new electronic building blocks

  • Emily Cole

    Liquid Light finds use for polluting CO2 gas

  • The Copenhagen Wheel can be retrofitted to almost any bicycle

    A powered bicycle wheel that learns as it turns

7 December 2014

  • Nina Tandon whose team is working on bio-engineering bone replacements.

    Lab-grown bones will save patients from having their own bone harvested if they need a graft

  • Alphabet Energy's E1 generator.

    A container-sized generator that converts waste heat into energy

  • The Thync applies low electrical current to the brain in order to alter the wearer's mood

    A mood-changing headset, Thync, that uses electrodes to perk you up

  • Tom Walkinshaw

    The tiny space satellite that you can build and launch yourself

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