Top Technology for 2015

General relativity
In July, the hunt for gravitational waves will heat up with the launch of a detector called Lisa
Pathfinder, which will test technology for a gravitational wave observatory in space. Two
earthbound experiments which should be able to pick up gravitational disturbances from
exploding stars will also be brought online in 2015.
Pluto-bound
This month, NASAs New Horizons spacecraft awoke from a long slumber. The probe, which has
been travelling for nearly nine years over 3 billion miles, will be the first spacecraft to reach the
discredited planet Pluto. As it gets closer from January through July, it will begin taking hyperdetailed images.
Ceres
In March, NASAs Dawn spacecraft will begin orbiting Ceres, an anomaly within the asteroid
belt. The planet measures about 590 miles across and weighs a third of all other asteroids in the
belt combined. It appears to be a survivor from the time the solar system was formed 4.6 billion
years ago.
LHC restart
Next spring, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the European particle physics
laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, will power up after two years of repairs. This time, the
LHC will be back at energies nearly twice as high as in the first run.
3D printing
Worldwide shipments of 3D printers are expected to grow 98 per cent in 2015. By 2020,
according to research firm IDC, 10 per cent of consumer products will be available through
produce on demand via 3D printing.
Competing on cloud
Cloud computing will be one of the 10 technology trends in 2015, according to IT analysis firm
Gartner. The focus will be on promoting centrally-coordinated applications that can port across
multiple devices and generate revenue streams. Cloud computing will generate some 14 million
new jobs worldwide by 2015.
Fighting Ebola

Scientists say 2015 will represent a turning point in the fight against the deadly Ebola virus,
which has now killed over 7,500 people. Two vaccines could reach West Africa by January
one from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and the other, from Iowa company NewLink
Genetics.
Data highway
Two weeks ago, a European satellite beamed images to Earth using new laser-based
communications technology. The images were a test of a $562 million data highway being
constructed, called the European Data Relay Satellite, which will allow faster transmission of
large amounts of data.
Rise of drones
Thousands of drones are expected to take flight in the coming months, serving a variety of
purposes warfare, delivery, surveillance, wildlife documentation and agriculture, among
others. GoPro Inc is developing its own line of consumer drones and Facebook has acquired
Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones.
Immunotherapy
Cancer immunotherapy, Sciences breakthrough of 2013, continues to surge as researchers amass
evidence that the immune system can be a powerful ally against tumours. Dozens of clinical
trials are under way.
Wearables
Most first-generation wearable technologies are functional but far from being fashionable.
Gartner predicts that sales will grow to 68.1 million units in 2015.