2018 in technology and computing

Years in technology and computing:	2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Centuries:	20th century · 21st century · 22nd century
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s
Years:	2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

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.^[14]

References

1. "Single metalens focuses all colors of the rainbow in one point". Harvard. 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
2. Shelby Rogers (7 January 2018). "Harvard Researchers Have Developed a Metalens That Could Revolutionize Optics". Interesting Engineering. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
3. "Physicists build muscle for shape-changing, cell-sized robots". EurekAlert!. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
4. Marc Z. Miskin; Kyle J. Dorsey; Baris Bircan; Yimo Han; David A. Muller; Paul L. McEuen; Itai Cohen (2018). "Graphene-based bimorphs for micron-sized, autonomous origami machines". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (3): 466–470. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115..466M. doi:10.1073/pnas.1712889115. PMC 5776973. PMID 29295917.
5. Metz, Cade; Perlroth, Nicole (3 January 2018). "Researchers Discover Two Major Flaws in the World's Computers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
6. Warren, Tom (3 January 2018). "Intel's processors have a security bug and the fix could slow down PCs". The Verge. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
7. Bright, Peter (5 January 2018). "Meltdown and Spectre: Here's what Intel, Apple, Microsoft, others are doing about it". Ars Technica. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
8. Walsh, Fergus (3 January 2018). "Woman receives bionic hand with sense of touch". BBC News. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
9. "Ultrafine fibers have exceptional strength". MIT. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
10. "U.S. researchers develop new technique to produce ultra-strong, resilient nanofibers for protective armors". Xinhua. 7 January 2018. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
11. "Microsoft creates AI that can read a document and answer questions about it as well as a person". Microsoft. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
12. "Computers are getting better than humans at reading". CNN. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
13. "Alibaba's AI Outguns Humans in Reading". Bloomberg L.P. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
14. "World's fastest camera freezes time at 10 trillion frames per second", Science Daily, 12 October 2018, retrieved 12 October 2018