2018 in technology and computing explained

Significant events that have occurred in 2018 in all fields of technology, including computing, robotics, electronics, as well as any other areas of technology as well, including any machines, devices, or other technological developments, occurrences, and items.

January

• 1 January – Researchers at Harvard, writing in Nature Nanotechnology, report the first single lens that can focus all colours of the rainbow in the same spot and in high resolution, previously only achievable with multiple lenses.^{[1] [2]}
• 2 January – Physicists at Cornell University report the creation of "muscle" for shape-changing, cell-sized robots.^{[3] [4]}
• 3 January
  • Computer researchers report discovering two major security vulnerabilities, named "Meltdown" and "Spectre," in the microprocessors inside almost all computers in the world.^{[5] [6] [7]}
  • Scientists in Rome unveil the first bionic hand with a sense of touch that can be worn outside a laboratory.^[8]
• 4 January – MIT researchers devise a new method to create stronger and more resilient nanofibers.^{[9] [10]}
• 15 January
  • Artificial intelligence programs developed by Microsoft and Alibaba achieve better average performance on a Stanford University reading and comprehension test than human beings.^{[11] [12] [13]}

October

• 11 October – The world's fastest camera, able to capture 10 trillion frames per second, is announced by the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) in Quebec, Canada.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Single metalens focuses all colors of the rainbow in one point . 1 January 2018. Harvard. 1 January 2018.
2. News: 7 January 2018. 9 January 2018. Harvard Researchers Have Developed a Metalens That Could Revolutionize Optics. Shelby Rogers. Interesting Engineering.
3. Web site: Physicists build muscle for shape-changing, cell-sized robots . 2 January 2018. EurekAlert!. 4 January 2018.
4. Marc Z. Miskin. Kyle J. Dorsey. Baris Bircan. Yimo Han. David A. Muller. Paul L. McEuen. Itai Cohen. Graphene-based bimorphs for micron-sized, autonomous origami machines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115. 3. 466–470. 2018. 10.1073/pnas.1712889115. 29295917. 5776973. 2018PNAS..115..466M. free.
5. News: Researchers Discover Two Major Flaws in the World's Computers. Metz. Cade . 3 January 2018. . 3 January 2018. Perlroth. Nicole. en-US. 0362-4331.
6. News: Warren . Tom . Intel's processors have a security bug and the fix could slow down PCs . 3 January 2018 . . 3 January 2018.
7. Web site: Bright . Peter . Meltdown and Spectre: Here's what Intel, Apple, Microsoft, others are doing about it . 5 January 2018 . . 6 January 2018 .
8. News: Woman receives bionic hand with sense of touch . 3 January 2018. BBC News. 3 January 2018. Walsh . Fergus .
9. Web site: Ultrafine fibers have exceptional strength. 5 January 2018. MIT. 7 January 2018.
10. News: Xinhua. 7 January 2018. 9 January 2018. U.S. researchers develop new technique to produce ultra-strong, resilient nanofibers for protective armors. https://web.archive.org/web/20180107092929/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-01/07/c_136878028.htm. dead. January 7, 2018.
11. Web site: Microsoft creates AI that can read a document and answer questions about it as well as a person. 15 January 2018. Microsoft. 22 January 2018.
12. Web site: Computers are getting better than humans at reading. 15 January 2018. CNN. 16 January 2018.
13. Web site: Alibaba's AI Outguns Humans in Reading. 15 January 2018. Bloomberg L.P.. 16 January 2018.