• el año pasado
En "El Futuro por Stephen Hawking: La Ciudad Perfecta", exploramos las visiones innovadoras del destacado físico teórico Stephen Hawking, quien no solo dedicó su vida a entender el cosmos, sino que también reflexionó sobre el futuro de la humanidad. En este fascinante video, profundizamos en cómo podrían transformarse nuestras ciudades para adaptarse a los retos del siglo XXI, desde la sostenibilidad hasta la tecnología avanzada. Hawking imaginó un futuro donde la civilización no solo sobrevive, sino que prospera en entornos urbanos inteligentes y ecológicamente responsables.

La idea de la 'ciudad perfecta' abarca la integración de tecnologías emergentes, la eficiencia energética y la cohesión social. A medida que enfrentamos problemas como el cambio climático y la sobrepoblación, aprender de las ideas de Hawking se vuelve esencial. Este video es una invitación a imaginar un mundo donde la tecnología y el diseño urbano se unan para crear espacios más habitables y sostenibles.

Para aquellos interesados en un futuro más brillante y consciente, este contenido es imperdible. Únete a nosotros en este viaje educativo y descubre cómo podemos construir la ciudad perfecta que Hawking soñó.

Aprovecha la oportunidad de reflexionar sobre estos temas vitales y comparte tus opiniones sobre el futuro de nuestras ciudades.

**Hashtags:** #StephenHawking, #FuturoSostenible, #CiudadesInteligentes

Stephen Hawking, futuro, ciudad perfecta, sostenibilidad, tecnología urbana, innovación, cambio climático, diseño ecológico, urbanismo, ciudades inteligentes.

Categoría

😹
Diversión
Transcripción
00:00100 years ago, 2 out of 10 people lived in an urbanized area.
00:07By 2050, this number will have increased to 7 out of 10.
00:11No one knows what the future holds,
00:14but the reality is that our urban spaces are already cluttered and polluted.
00:20Now, our five scientists will investigate how technology is being used
00:24to design smarter cities
00:27with the hope of sustaining our growing population.
00:37Meeting the future energy needs of our cities in constant expansion
00:41is one of the greatest challenges that humanity faces.
00:47Fossil fuels pollute, renewable energies are not reliable,
00:52and nuclear energy is very controversial.
00:54But is there an alternative?
00:59The answer may be in France,
01:02where about 40,000 runners warm up for the Paris Marathon.
01:08Without knowing it, they will participate in a revolutionary scientific experiment.
01:15The result could mean the beginning of a new era in energy production.
01:21Jim Al-Khalili is there to follow it step by step.
01:29About 20 meters down the streets of Paris is the largest metro station in the world,
01:34Châtelet-les-Halles.
01:37Almost a million people pass through this station every day,
01:41wasting a lot of energy.
01:44And what do we do with it?
01:46Nothing.
01:48It seems a great waste.
01:51What if there was a way to turn all this human activity into electricity?
02:01That is precisely what this British team of engineers is working on.
02:11They turn the sidewalks into an electric power plant.
02:17This innovative technology was conceived by the engineer Lawrence Kemble Cook.
02:22Tell me, what is the fundamental idea, Lawrence?
02:25What is happening here?
02:27The technology turns the weight of the steps into electricity,
02:30so that every time you stand on a sidewalk or walk or jump on it,
02:34it turns that small amount of kinetic energy into electricity.
02:39The weight of the steps presses a flexible plate
02:42that makes a neodymium magnet move inside fixed-copper coils,
02:46which produces a current that can be stored.
02:49The best thing is that, unlike a dynamo,
02:52it does not have mobile mechanical parts that can be damaged.
02:56Each step generates about 10 joules of energy,
02:59with which a 10-watt light bulb could be turned on for just a second.
03:03But Kemble Cook says that many steps can create a lot of energy.
03:07How many are needed to turn it into something really viable?
03:10For us, it's all a matter of scale.
03:13Having a boiler in the kitchen
03:15could not provide us with energy in a significant way.
03:18But when you have 50,000 people going through a station every hour,
03:21there we would already have 50,000 pieces of energy.
03:24It would be by combining them when it would become something tangible
03:27and that could be used to charge the battery,
03:29add to the electrical grid,
03:31and so any product that does not require a lot of power
03:34could use the energy extracted from this product.
03:37Boilers are going to be tested at large and in real time.
03:40They have been installed along the Elysium fields,
03:43about 200 meters from the finish line.
03:46This is the largest installation we have done.
03:49We have put a total of 178 boilers on the ground.
03:51I'm looking forward to seeing how much energy is going to be produced.
03:54I want to see how many people are going to step on them
03:56and what will be the places where more energy is produced
03:58when the platoon starts moving.
04:02Human energy, an ingenious idea.
04:05It is an inexhaustible source that surrounds us.
04:09I imagine it illuminating the streets of the whole city.
04:14But when the marathon was about to begin,
04:16I began to have doubts.
04:19I've been doing the sums, and anywhere I look at it,
04:22I don't see it as viable.
04:24Each footstep on one of these boilers
04:26produces 10 joules of electricity.
04:28So like the streetlights in Paris,
04:30for a single night it requires a trillion joules.
04:33That's a trillion footsteps.
04:39I can understand Jim's skepticism.
04:42This technology could never produce electricity
04:45at a level that could compete with fossil fuels
04:48or nuclear energy.
04:50But it has the potential to radically change
04:52our way of producing energy in the future.
05:01The marathon begins.
05:03During the next few hours, the boilers will receive a beating
05:06when the 33,000 runners approach the finish line.
05:12But how much energy will they produce?
05:15Until then, the boilers had been tested
05:18in shopping malls, schools and festivals,
05:21but never at this scale.
05:28When the runners in the lead approach the finish line,
05:31the energy produced will be measured.
05:33A very tense moment for Lorenz.
05:36The runners are still passing over the boilers
05:39and producing energy.
05:41How much energy has been produced already?
05:43During this last hour, the boilers have produced
05:45a total of 90,000 joules,
05:47which is enough to illuminate a normal street
05:49for about two hours.
05:52When the last runners cross the finish line,
05:54the countdown ends.
05:56Almost 500 square meters of boilers
05:58ended up generating 4.7 kilowatts of electricity,
06:02enough to charge almost 2,000 mobile phones,
06:05drive 24 kilometers with an electric car
06:08or light 50 LED streetlights.
06:12Now, what is the next step?
06:14Our goal is to take this to many places in the city
06:16through infrastructures,
06:18through transport and through new buildings.
06:23Subway stations, trains, airports.
06:26In spaces like these,
06:28the potential of human activity as a source of energy is evident.
06:33This is a clear example of how PAYBEN works very well.
06:35Right now we are at the Charles de Gaulle subway station,
06:37where thousands of people pass by every hour.
06:39We would like to plant our product on the platforms
06:41and in these corridors so crowded.
06:43Well, if we do the math,
06:45each person produces only a small amount of energy,
06:47so what scale would we be talking about?
06:49It would not be enough to supply energy to the entire station,
06:52but it is a source of free energy
06:54that could be available and that would be added to the power grid.
06:58Thousands of people pass through this station every day,
07:01generating more than 500 kilowatts per week,
07:04enough to light 10 medium-sized houses in one day.
07:08These power generators are in production
07:12and will be installed in various train stations
07:14before the end of the year.
07:20In a very short time,
07:22hundreds of thousands of people around the world
07:24could produce energy just by walking.
07:27In the future,
07:29supplying energy to cities
07:31will consist of a combination of technology,
07:33ingenuity and imagination.
07:35And why not?
07:37Part of the solution could be human energy.
07:39Creating electricity from human activity
07:42is the definitive renewable energy.
07:44But satisfying people's needs
07:47will be a huge problem for cities in the future.
07:50By 2050,
07:52the planet could have reached
07:5410 billion inhabitants.
07:56Imagine the supermarket line.
07:59Shopping will have to be faster and more efficient.
08:03Can robots help us?
08:08By 2025,
08:10there will be about 30 megacities in the world,
08:12each with more than 10 million inhabitants.
08:16With so many people claiming products and services,
08:19could technology help us
08:21to keep up with what we buy today?
08:24In Boston,
08:26a manufacturing machine
08:28made up of robots
08:30is being built to meet our consumer demands.
08:32Chris Eliasmith is about to test
08:34the theory that robots
08:36do everything better than us.
08:38Going shopping is a nuisance,
08:40but could a robot do it faster?
08:42So, here's a simple test.
08:44I'm going to take a dozen products, for example,
08:46and I'm going to take them to the box.
08:48Let's see how long it takes.
08:50An average person spends about two and a half hours a week
08:52buying food.
08:54Throughout the year,
08:56they add up to a total of 15 days
08:58buying exclusively,
09:00and in today's world,
09:02it's a waste of our precious time.
09:04One less.
09:06Let's see. Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream.
09:08Here it is.
09:12Let's see how long it took.
09:1418 minutes.
09:16That's a long time.
09:18And if we could avoid all this
09:20by simply pressing a button,
09:22that would be fantastic.
09:24Kiva Systems could make it happen.
09:26They're currently designing,
09:28building, and training
09:30a whole bunch of workers
09:32to do the shopping for us.
09:38These are robots.
09:40Hundreds of them.
09:42Mick Mounds is its creator
09:44and the executive director of the company.
09:4610 or 12 years ago,
09:48I was working in e-commerce
09:50on a food delivery project
09:52in the Bay Area,
09:54and we didn't know how to pack and distribute
09:56in an economical way.
09:58How to put a can of soup or a tube of toothpaste
10:00in a bag and send it home?
10:02So we invented this.
10:04Traditionally, the products were moved
10:06through the distribution center
10:08with the help of conveyor belts and lifting carts.
10:10Thanks to the idea of Kiva,
10:12the products are placed in portable storage units.
10:14When an order arrives,
10:16a robot is sent to pick up the products.
10:18So why don't we have all the robots
10:20stand out here,
10:22just out here,
10:24into the highway,
10:26and they can come from wherever they want
10:28and line themselves up on the highway.
10:30I've always wanted to be in charge
10:32of my own robot army.
10:34There we go.
10:36Release the hounds.
10:38They're going the wrong way.
10:40It's my fault.
10:42There are four of them moving at the same time.
10:44Why don't they collide with each other?
10:46Well, what happens is that each robot
10:48is in a wireless network
10:50and communicates with the host
10:52and moves through a system of stickers
10:54that we've put down on the ground.
10:56The host assigns them a mission
10:58and tells them to travel through certain stickers
11:00at a specific time.
11:02It would be the work of some kind of aerial controller.
11:04Each sticker is a different barcode
11:06in two dimensions
11:08that identifies its location in the corridor
11:10as a reference of coordinates.
11:12The central computer sends the information
11:14to each robot in the warehouse
11:16and updates it
11:18as new orders arrive.
11:20This means that the route of each
11:22of the 500 robots located on the ground
11:24can change constantly
11:26to avoid collision.
11:32When they all move at the same time,
11:34it's like seeing a colony of robotic ants.
11:40So, these guys are adorable,
11:42but I'd like to know what makes them move.
11:44Let's call this guy up.
11:46So, we have two motors
11:48that make it move forward
11:50and a third motor
11:52that uses to rotate the lift plate
11:54that's on top of it.
11:56It does it as if it were a jackhammer.
11:58That's an ingenious design.
12:00This version of the robot in particular
12:02is designed to support a load
12:04of about 1,300 kilos
12:06and, well, it also carries the weight
12:08of the computer on board.
12:10Of course.
12:12It helps it coordinate
12:14as a Wi-Fi radio
12:16that communicates with the host
12:18and talks to the camera
12:20so it can see the floor
12:22and see the loads it's picking up.
12:24You'll see it's full of cables
12:26for the different sensors,
12:28for the lights and for the indicators.
12:30Wow, look at that.
12:32It's got more eyes than a spider.
12:34Robots like these will undoubtedly
12:36need to be fast enough
12:38to truly revolutionize commerce
12:40and deliver the order
12:42on the very day it's made.
12:46It's time to put the robots to the test.
12:48How long will it take
12:50to prepare an order
12:52and get it to me?
12:54You absolutely have to have
12:56an order today.
12:58The first thing is
13:00some ice cream.
13:02So, some ice cream.
13:04So, what we're going to do now
13:06is put your order on this table
13:08and assign it to this pick-up point
13:10and, well, look at the robots.
13:12Yeah, they've started spinning.
13:14Nice.
13:16They're looking for the containers
13:18where the products you ordered are.
13:20Yeah, they're in there.
13:22It's a brand new concept
13:24of finishing an order.
13:26It's done in real time.
13:28I think they're bringing
13:30the five things at the same time.
13:32If we find a container
13:34that includes two or three
13:36of the things you've ordered,
13:38we use that one,
13:40and that reduces the weight
13:42that the robot has to bear.
13:44The first one is here, right?
13:46Yeah, just 30 seconds
13:48after you've pressed
13:50the order button on the web,
13:52the product can go
13:54from the warehouse
13:56to the customer's hands.
13:58Excellent.
14:00The world's largest consumer
14:02has purchased Kiva
14:04for no less than $800 million.
14:06In 2023,
14:08almost a quarter of all products
14:10are expected to be sold
14:12over the internet
14:14because of the speed
14:16of delivery.
14:18Opportunities to interact
14:20with the world
14:22without having to physically
14:24be in a specific place
14:26increase rapidly.
14:28How many times have you wished
14:30to have a double share
14:32with your workload?
14:34To be able to create
14:36a digital and realistic
14:38substitute is an ambitious dream,
14:40but a new technology
14:42shows us that it may not
14:44be as unattainable
14:46as it may seem.
14:48When I was younger,
14:50the advancement of technology
14:52pointed to a future
14:54where we could enjoy
14:56the more things we are able
14:58to do, the more we are busy.
15:00Our cities are full of machines
15:02that increase our possibilities,
15:04but what if we could
15:06be in two places at once?
15:08Now, Daniel Kraft
15:10is going to be in charge
15:12of investigating how we can
15:14visually duplicate ourselves.
15:16So the question is,
15:18how convincing can an avatar be?
15:20In Japan,
15:22the scientist of robotics
15:24has created his own double robot
15:26and hopes that it will be able
15:28to teach him to do the double of hours.
15:30The robot is very realistic,
15:32but it suffers from what
15:34robotics experts call
15:36a disturbing valley.
15:38It is almost convincing,
15:40but something is missing.
15:42I am heading to the other end
15:44of the planet, Los Angeles,
15:46where the world of entertainment
15:48serves as an inspiration
15:50for what could be a better solution.
15:52In California, a team of scientists
15:54believes that if we want to duplicate ourselves,
15:56it is possible that robots are not the best option.
15:58They are working on a definitive way
16:00to duplicate ourselves digitally
16:02thanks to photorealism.
16:04This team has been investigating
16:06how light is reflected on the skin.
16:08The purpose of resorting to
16:10these innovative technologies
16:12of digitization and representation
16:14is to develop convincing virtual people.
16:16One of the many projects
16:18led by Paul Debebek.
16:20Let's go get it.
16:22Paul, what are you doing here?
16:24Well, we are in the graphics laboratory
16:26of the Institute of Creative Technologies,
16:28and this is the room
16:30where we are setting up our light stage
16:32to welcome real people,
16:34digitize them,
16:36and create characters in a virtual world
16:38that are very similar to them.
16:40It is very difficult to get to the level
16:42of capturing each pore of the skin,
16:44each wrinkle,
16:46or the translucency of the skin,
16:48and also to capture the dynamics of the face
16:50when changing expression to expression.
16:52We have been using digital photography
16:54to capture people's expressions for a long time.
16:56What is needed for this system
16:58that is different from it?
17:00Well, a digital photograph is flat.
17:02It is an image in two dimensions
17:04from a specific point of view
17:06with a fixed light and a single facial expression.
17:08We need to record a digital model
17:10of each person from all possible points of view,
17:12under any lighting,
17:14and with any kind of facial expression.
17:16Wow!
17:22It's like being in a star field.
17:24You are surrounded by
17:26about 6,000 LEDs right now.
17:30For this configuration,
17:32we have seven high-resolution sports cameras
17:34pointing towards you.
17:36The key advance lies in the understanding
17:38that light is not only reflected
17:40on the surface of the skin,
17:42but can also penetrate the epidermis,
17:44depending on the intensity of the light
17:46and the tone of the skin.
17:48The dome is programmed
17:50to illuminate the subject from any direction
17:52in a range of different color temperatures.
17:54But that's not all.
17:56The skin behaves differently
17:58when it stretches,
18:00and Paul's system also takes this into account.
18:02What do I have to do now?
18:04Well, now we are going to ask you
18:06to make a series of facial expressions.
18:08You will have to hold each of them for about two seconds.
18:10What will happen then is that the cameras
18:12will take about 16 photos during those two seconds
18:14and the lights will reproduce special lighting conditions
18:16and the shine of your skin will be collected.
18:18Its transluminescence
18:20and how the light is reflected on you
18:22from all directions.
18:24All that is what we will use
18:26to reconstruct your face in 3D.
18:28Great, let's do it.
18:30I have to admit that I'm a little concerned
18:32that my face is going to be examined
18:34in such a mathematical way.
18:36Daniel, let's go for the first expression.
18:38Let's start with a neutral one,
18:40which is a very common compliment.
18:42Eyes closed, let's go.
18:44Okay, now let's go to the next one.
18:46Neutral, eyes open.
18:50Okay, good.
18:52Would you like to make one of your own?
18:54Do you make one that is very yours
18:56and that we can capture?
18:58Inquisitive gaze.
19:02All right, have a seat over here
19:04and let's take a look
19:06at what we've captured with our device.
19:08This is the neutral one with the eyes closed
19:10and you can see that it has been illuminated
19:12in different ways.
19:14So the flashes have gone off
19:16and the different angles have been captured?
19:18That's right.
19:20The light has been collected
19:22by reflecting on your face
19:24and here we also have your face
19:26of perplexity and interest.
19:28In this image you can see
19:30the first superficial reflection
19:32on your skin.
19:34All the light is focused on you
19:36and your three-dimensional model
19:38so that your digital version
19:40can also have every bit of this detail.
19:42So we're going to be able to see
19:44a 3D version of me?
19:46Of course, while we're here
19:48having fun with these images
19:50our technical artist J-Bus
19:52has been processing all the information
19:54to create your final 3D model.
19:56It's almost ready.
19:58The 3D model is a scan
20:00that simply provides the shape
20:02and contour of the face.
20:04This is our 3D model.
20:06As you can see
20:08your face has been reconstructed
20:10in a three-dimensional network.
20:12So it's not the photos yet
20:14but the reconstruction itself.
20:16Exactly.
20:18If we add the information
20:20provided by the photos
20:22we have a representation of you
20:24with your skin colour and your shine
20:26and in different light conditions
20:28than the light conditions
20:30in which we photographed you.
20:32Well, what have you done there?
20:34We've taken all the information
20:36and from it I've been able to reconstruct
20:38your face with a precision
20:40of one-tenth of a millimetre
20:42so that you don't lose any wrinkles
20:44or marks from the shots on your face
20:46and make it look real.
20:48One-tenth of a millimetre?
20:50How? To escape something?
20:52Well, that's crucial
20:54to create a realistic digital character
20:56that moves in a credible way
20:58and transmits the emotions
21:00in an extraordinary way.
21:02But in order to create a convincing avatar
21:04and thus avoid the disturbing valley
21:06it's essential that it moves naturally.
21:08Paul has been experimenting
21:10with a highly developed character
21:12created by his researcher Ari Shapiro.
21:14People from all over the world
21:16have asked me,
21:18is this you? You talk like you, you're the same.
21:20Have you shaved your head?
21:22People know me and have identified me
21:24through my other self.
21:26We started the process just like you
21:28in the same place where you've been.
21:30We had Ari sitting there for half an hour
21:32and we asked her to make 30 different facial expressions.
21:34Here you can see a few
21:36and then we went further
21:38and we related them to each other
21:40so that it was possible to switch from one expression to another.
21:42Here you can see the change from expression to expression
21:44and also how the shape and textures of the skin
21:46are changing.
21:48Here we have the wrinkles, the folds
21:50and all the aspects of the process
21:52that we want to come through.
21:54This visualisation of her face
21:56is showing a facial animation technique
21:58where the face of Ari is moving
22:00according to the facial expression
22:02and the facial animation is doing the same thing.
22:04It detects which facial expression
22:06is analysing each part of his face.
22:08And as you can do different facial expressions
22:10with different parts of the face
22:12we can mix the scanned images
22:14to get the same expression.
22:16The last clip here is of Ari
22:18actually saying a dialogue.
22:20Lip sync is the first version
22:22that we did, so the lip sync
22:24is not perfect in this example
22:26but you can get a better idea
22:28of how the digital Ari is.
22:38The script would not be very good
22:40but the improvements keep coming.
22:42The face that we are going to see now
22:44shows us how convincing
22:46a digital avatar can be.
22:48It is not real, her face is completely digital.
22:54The next phase of the process
22:56goes a step further.
22:58In this configuration,
23:00a single click can get
23:02the digital actor to move.
23:08You've seen how the Light Stage X works,
23:10the one we use to scan people's faces
23:12but now I'm going to show you the Light Stage 6.
23:16The Light Stage 6 is massive.
23:18It's 8 metres in diameter
23:20and it's designed to illuminate
23:22the entire face of a person.
23:24It has 931 bulbs in the dome
23:26and 180 on the floor.
23:28Each one has 6 LEDs
23:30and a total of 6,666 points of light
23:32surrounding you.
23:34It's big enough to have
23:36an optimal point of 2 metres
23:38so we can project all the light
23:40on the body,
23:42quickly launch flashes
23:44and record with ultra-fast cameras
23:46from different angles.
23:48It's not just a motion capture.
23:50You can take the cameras
23:52and place them wherever you want
23:54and the cinematographers and directors
23:56can use the Light Stage
23:58to change almost every aspect of the performance.
24:02How far do you think this could go?
24:04Well, the most exciting thing
24:06is the possibility of combining
24:08these so realistic digital representations
24:10with artificial intelligence algorithms
24:12which will make up
24:14the brains of teachers,
24:16teachers, co-workers
24:18and digital actors
24:20who can say and do things
24:22that have not been programmed
24:24in a specific way.
24:26I think we will have very interesting results
24:28in the next 10 to 15 years.
24:30It's something tremendously fascinating
24:32that will change the world.
24:34It's already doing it.
24:36Let's think about it for a moment.
24:38A digital version of ourselves
24:40would be very, very useful.
24:42Much of what we do today
24:44we do in a virtual world.
24:46We are getting rid of the disturbing valley.
24:48Yes, I like the idea.
24:50Interactive tutors
24:52could be very useful
24:54in massive and open online courses
24:56also called COMA.
24:58And in the entertainment industry
25:00it would be very exciting.
25:02We would have digital actors
25:04who would never age
25:06and who could do impossible feats.
25:08Our future idols
25:10could not even be real.
25:12The way we interact with the digital world
25:14is something that we will create in the future.
25:16In an intelligent city
25:18a house will be equipped
25:20with devices so intuitive
25:22that it will hardly be an effort
25:24to interact with them.
25:26When the typewriter was invented
25:28many doors were opened
25:30around our way of interacting
25:32with machines.
25:34Almost 150 years later
25:36touchscreens have done the same
25:38with the digital world
25:40but with certain limitations.
25:42To be able to interact with the physical world
25:44and to have those smart houses and offices
25:46that have been promised to us for years
25:48in Pittsburgh
25:50researchers at Carnegie Mellon
25:52are taking interactive technology
25:54a little further.
25:56Karin Bondar is there
25:58to learn more about the inventions
26:00that will make the current interface
26:02of any object disappear.
26:04I think it's here.
26:08Hi Robert.
26:10Hi.
26:12What do we have here?
26:14Well, basically it's an expansion project
26:16of the multi-touch interaction
26:18beyond pressing here, pressing here, pressing here, right?
26:20Essentially what we've done
26:22is create a way for the touch screen
26:24to recognize different parts of your hand
26:26so you can touch it with your fingers
26:28like you normally do.
26:30Yes, that's the most common way, the traditional way.
26:32Now try it with your knuckles.
26:34You can also press with your nail.
26:36And how does this work?
26:38It creates a signature.
26:40So hear this.
26:44These all sound different.
26:46And that's what we've used
26:48for the screen to know what you're doing.
26:50The screen has a sensor
26:52that allows it to detect
26:54different types of vibration
26:56which can be used
26:58to activate different functions.
27:00We've gone from using one finger
27:02in one way to using the same finger
27:04in three different ways.
27:06So it's a big step forward
27:08but we're also working
27:10on ways to use all of your hands
27:12to introduce information.
27:14So I'm going to show you
27:16another project we're working on.
27:18Imagine holding something
27:20like this eraser with your hand.
27:22So hold it like this
27:24and oh!
27:26Oh wow!
27:28The actual eraser
27:30is on the screen
27:32and I'm using all of my fingers.
27:34The screen detects combinations
27:36of touch points
27:38to allow us to interact
27:40with it as naturally
27:42as we would with real objects.
27:44Researchers have gone even further.
27:46They're transforming the way
27:48the screen interacts.
27:50The WorkKit project
27:52transforms any surface
27:54into a digital interface.
27:58Chris!
28:00Hi, welcome.
28:02Yeah, what we've done here
28:04is transform the wall
28:06into a touch screen.
28:08Walls transformed
28:10into touch screens?
28:12How can a wall become
28:14touch sensitive?
28:16This is WorkKit
28:18and what we have here
28:20is a projector
28:22and what we have here
28:24is a projector
28:26and what we have here
28:28is a projector
28:30and then we have an infrared camera
28:32that looks at that pattern
28:34and it looks to see
28:36if it's 3D or not.
28:38So what it does with this
28:40combination of projector and camera
28:42is create touch sensitive surfaces
28:44in any part of the world,
28:46on tables, doors, walls,
28:48everything can become a touch screen.
28:50Like the one you had
28:52next to the door.
28:54Exactly.
28:56The depth camera
28:58just pretend that your hand
29:00is like a paint brush
29:02and you draw a sensor
29:04on the door.
29:06Okay.
29:08Now, where do you want
29:10your sensors to be?
29:12Okay.
29:14Exactly.
29:16If you stand right in front
29:18of the door.
29:20There they are.
29:22So you can say,
29:24okay, you're busy.
29:26The system then calculates
29:28which button I pressed
29:30and the projector lights it up.
29:32And that's only really one very small
29:34sample of the kind of applications
29:36that we could create in the world.
29:38The most impressive
29:40thing about this technology
29:42is how it will transform our day to day.
29:44We will have a digital world
29:46within reach of our hands
29:48wherever we are,
29:50in the office, in school, or at home.
29:52What we have here
29:54is a recipe kit.
29:56And it's showing us the recipe
29:58for how to make a banana bread.
30:00It's showing us all the ingredients
30:02we need, sugar, bananas, eggs, etc.
30:04So what you need to do now
30:06is take that cup of water.
30:08You just put the things
30:10where they tell you.
30:12Yeah.
30:14And now it's going to check
30:16that the ingredients are added.
30:18That's why it's green
30:20when you put it on top.
30:22I'm going to try to put just one.
30:24The system will tell you
30:26when you've put the wrong amount.
30:28Did you need one more egg?
30:30Now let's see what the next step is.
30:32The only thing left is to mix it all
30:34and put it in the pan for 25 minutes.
30:36Let's do it.
30:38Technologies like this
30:40that save us work
30:42will help us enjoy more time
30:44to relax, 25 minutes in particular.
30:46Now I'm going to show you
30:48something we'll have in the living room.
30:50I'm going to take this little table
30:52and I can change the orientation
30:54of these interfaces too.
30:56We can also have a volume control
30:58in the armrest on the sofa.
31:00Okay.
31:02Yep, just like that.
31:04So I'll add another,
31:06we can put another control
31:08right here, which would come in handy.
31:10And now, boom, we have a remote control
31:12for the television.
31:14So if you sit down, you can have a go.
31:16Okay. Oh, my goodness.
31:18Ah, and up it goes.
31:20There we go.
31:22Okay, so now I'm going to try
31:24to move this forward.
31:26Mm-hmm.
31:28It's ridiculous that I'm touching the table
31:30and I'm doing this.
31:32Okay, now the volume.
31:34Okay.
31:36This is going to be
31:38the delights of the lowest.
31:40When I put this technology
31:42on my house, I'll put on 10 kilos
31:44at least.
31:46Okay, so if you're going to do this
31:48on your house, you're going to think
31:50it could be used.
31:52If you think about how you can make
31:54any surface on the house feel sensitive
31:56to touch, as we've done right now
31:58with the sofa and the table
32:00or how we did with the door
32:02and the blind, then you can kind of
32:04look at these powerful
32:06computer experiences as ubiquitous
32:08like air or light.
32:10At the end, we're going to get rid
32:12of all the keyboards
32:14and get into the light.
32:16And so what we've been doing
32:18is we've been creating
32:20smaller and smaller versions of this.
32:22This is going to be a light bulb.
32:24And we're going to be using a depth sensor
32:26and we're going to be using the same technologies
32:28that we've used on a much smaller device
32:30and we're just projecting light
32:32into any area where maybe
32:34in 10 or 15 years,
32:36this will be as ubiquitous
32:38in our way of lighting
32:40as light bulbs have been
32:42the tactile surfaces.
32:44Chris hopes that its use is fully extended in 2025.
32:50Thanks to visionaries like Chris, in the near future we will be able to interact with technology
32:55wherever, whenever and however we want.
32:57A new digital era has begun.
33:02New York is one of my favorite cities, famous for its dazzling skyline.
33:08Eight million people live there.
33:11But while they go out to have fun, some ungrateful guests join the party.
33:1532 million rats.
33:18The city has been trying for years to catch these destructive rodents and carriers of
33:22diseases, but so far their efforts to control the plague have been in vain.
33:29Now scientists are trying to control the problem without killing a single rat.
33:40Sati Prasad is in the Great Apple to investigate her extraordinary idea.
33:50The truth is that it is incredible how rats take over the city when night falls.
33:55I've been here for just a little while and I've seen dozens of them.
33:59They drink water from that puddle and get into the garbage bags that are stuck to the
34:02wall to eat from there.
34:04This place is crawling with rats.
34:09They're just running out in front of me.
34:14It's like they're so used to living in the city with people, they know that where there
34:19are people, there is food.
34:25The new strategy of the city's administrators is funded by the National Institutes of Health
34:31and has cost 1,100 million dollars.
34:33Scientists are going to test a novel and radical experiment to control the fertility of rats
34:38and it's going to take place on the subway, where the problem prevails.
34:45Dr. Loretta Mayer is in charge of the project.
34:48I don't know, every time a train passes, there's a smell of rats decomposing, very, very unpleasant.
34:54Do you think it's the poison that's killing them?
34:56Yes, that's it.
34:58But the poison is not something productive.
35:00We've been poisoning them for decades.
35:03Yes.
35:04And we still have rats.
35:05Loretta is convinced that killing rats does not work after discovering a crucial aspect
35:10by observing their behavior.
35:12Families, just as it happens with ours, prevent other families from moving to their flat.
35:20If we kill all the rats, other rats will be able to move here and it is possible that
35:25we will end up having even more rats than in the beginning.
35:29So the problem was not being solved?
35:30No, it was not being solved.
35:32The problem is reproduction.
35:34But how do you control the fertility of rats?
35:38As has happened with so many others, Loretta's discovery occurred unexpectedly.
35:45About 20 years ago, she studied rodents and noticed, by chance, that women who worked
35:49in plastic factories had problems getting pregnant.
35:53They had been exposed to high levels of a chemical substance called diepoxyde of vinyl
35:58cyclohexane.
36:00I was desperately looking for a compound that would naturally speed up the loss of
36:05ovules in the ovary.
36:07She then wondered if that substance would have the same effect on rats and the tests
36:11began.
36:12If Loretta's hypothesis is correct, the consequences could be very great.
36:17Rats reach sexual maturity between 8 and 12 weeks of life and have about six layers
36:22a year, or even more.
36:25Four sexually active females could give birth to the incredible number of 1,750,000 offspring
36:31in just nine months.
36:33But could a substance that prevents human reproduction effectively control the fertility
36:38of rats?
36:39The answer will be found in some tests on the New York subway.
36:47At the head of the crusade to control the problem of New York with rats is Dr. Loretta
36:52Meyer, who has discovered that a chemical substance called diepoxyde of vinyl cyclohexane
36:58can slow down the growth of ovarian follicles.
37:01His idea is to use it to prevent rats from reproducing so quickly but without killing
37:07any of them.
37:08A test will be carried out on the subway in the city, but will rats fall into the trap?
37:14If they ingest it, the effect is similar to the menopausal transition of women and greatly
37:18reduces the reproductive life of rats.
37:22For this test, doses of the substance, too small to affect human health, have been added
37:28to some foods, which will be, hopefully, ingested by female rats.
37:32Loretta, you're about to try this experiment.
37:35You're going to try your system on real rats in New York.
37:38Exactly.
37:39We're going to start by looking at their behavior in the first place and their habits.
37:44We're going to be looking at their population density.
37:47We're going to do some estimations and, obviously, we're going to offer them different
37:50nutrients to see which ones they prefer.
37:53And, finally, we're going to see how effective our concept has been in reducing the number
37:58of rats.
38:01Loretta will be able to control the absorption of the compound because the moustaches of
38:04the rats that have bitten will shine green under ultraviolet rays.
38:10The test in a real situation has already begun and will take about three or four months.
38:16In the meantime, I decided to meet with a rat hunter.
38:23I wanted to be able to compare Loretta's results with other more traditional methods.
38:28Go ahead.
38:30Oh, it really stinks.
38:33What is that smell?
38:34It's the smell of urine and the feces of the rats.
38:37It's evident that the rats have been here for a long time.
38:40The bad thing about traps is that the rats end up detecting them.
38:43Yeah.
38:44We catch a few, but the rest of them realize that they don't have to come close.
38:48When the traps don't work, Rudy uses the poison.
38:51But the poison is not effective either.
38:57They have a food source right here next door.
38:59We're right in a supermarket and the containers are in the back.
39:02Yeah, and the trash.
39:03It's clear that if we put the poison in there, with fresh melons, grapes, and things like
39:07that, we have nothing to do.
39:09During a period of about three months, Rudy places numerous traps and hundreds of kilos
39:13of poison without affecting the rat population considerably.
39:17Every year, only in the United States, millions of kilos of poison are used for rats, and
39:22more than 10,000 children are exposed to it.
39:2590% of the poisoning takes place in our homes.
39:30What's really clear is that the poison doesn't work.
39:32It doesn't control the rats.
39:34What we need is a smarter solution, and that's what Loretta is working on.
39:41Almost three months later, we finally checked the results.
39:4467% of the rats in the tested area had ingested the compound.
39:50The impact of this could be extraordinary.
39:52With that percentage, a rat population of about 15 million would be reduced to 15,000
39:57in just eight months.
40:00Do you think this strategy that you've used could be used in other countries to control
40:06the population of other animals that pose a threat to people?
40:11Yes.
40:12In any case in which animals and humans collide.
40:15The idea of fertility, the idea of reproduction, directly attacks the core of the problem.
40:22It's not about shooting them or poisoning them.
40:26It's about reducing their population in a more humane way and allowing us to coexist
40:30in a better world.
40:33In 2015, Loretta will carry out more studies in Chicago and Boston.
40:40Controlling the reproduction of another species can generate controversy.
40:44But the situations in which Loretta's compound could be used are very diverse.
40:49Not just in our cities, but also in agriculture.
40:53In Indonesia, only rats and other rodents cause enough rice to be lost to feed more
40:59than 30 million people for a whole year.
41:02With our cities in constant expansion, many of us will live closer to each other.
41:08We will demand better services, better communication, greater ease of buying,
41:13and innovative and radical entertainment.
41:16And as we've seen, science will always be able to offer us more than we ever dreamed
41:21it would be possible.
41:23Thank you for your attention.

Recomendada