Future tech

Currently underway in Austin, Texas, the South by Southwest festival gives the globe a peek at the future of music, film and tech. Inkstone is adding to the conversation in a series about Chinese scientists working on breakthroughs that could revolutionize everyday life. Today, we take a look at a team of scientists building an “unhackable” internet. So what makes it unhackable? Quantum broadband.  This technology, which uses quantum mechanics rather than the binary logic that currently powers our digital technology, has been discussed and developed for decades – but it's still in its infancy.  Quantum computing works by sending information about miniscule particules – for example, the exact

Texas’ South by Southwest (SXSW) festival is in full swing, with cutting-edge technology on show at SXSW Interactive providing a playground for innovative thinkers with an eye on the future. At Inkstone, we're marking the occasion with a series on the work of Chinese scientists that could transform the world.  In today’s instalment, we look at one of China’s most ambitious and contentious projects: the plan to build a facial recognition database designed to identify any one of the country’s 1.3 billion citizens in seconds. The goal is for the system to able to match someone’s face to a database of photos with about 90% accuracy. The project, launched by the Ministry of Public Security in 201

It’s the fourth day of the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas –  a showcase and forum for the global tech elite. To mark the occasion, Inkstone is starting a series looking at cutting-edge technology being developed by Chinese scientists. These range from the search for alien life to work to build an “unhackable” internet. Today we focus on an advance which may move us a step closer to cloning humans – with all the ethical questions it raises. Earlier this year, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai announced that they had cloned two long-tailed macaques named Hua Hua and Zhong Zhong, following years of research into a cloning techn

This year’s South by Southwest festival, which starts on Friday in Austin, Texas, includes some fascinating looking talks on the “Intelligent Future” –  how technology could transform every aspect of our lives. To mark the occasion, Inkstone is starting a series looking at cutting-edge technology being developed by Chinese scientists. These range from the search for alien life to work to build an “unhackable” internet. Today we start with a project that could cut the journey time between Beijing and New York, a distance of 6,800 miles, from 14 hours to just two. A team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has devised a prototype for a hypersonic plane that could travel at 3,700 miles per hou