Featured Image Credit: University of Oxford / John Keeble / Contributor/Getty
One of the biggest advancements in tech might have just been uncovered, and it's just recently been sold for around £110,000,000 ($137,702,950) per gram.
New iPhones always have those small enhancements that make them hard to resist, but rarely have significant or noticeable boosts between versions that can really make a difference.
People have been able to discover hidden settings in the weather app, or look forward to the most important upcoming update, but one particular ingredient could be key to the future of Apple's devices.
The ingredient in question is called 'Nitrogen Atom-Based Endohedral Fullerences' and is as much of a tongue twister as it is a game-changer when it comes to new tech.
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Developed by Oxford University scientists at Designer Carbon Materials, the material is able to be used to make 'incredibly accurate' and 'tiny' atomic clocks.
Atomic clocks are an essential part of GPS systems, as they greatly increase the signal in otherwise challenging areas like tunnels that could revolutionize both getting around and automated technology in driverless cars.
The trouble with standard atomic clocks at the moment is that they're typically no smaller than the size of an entire room, so fitting that into something as small and portable as an iPhone would be impossible.
As you can imagine, this would be incredibly handy for phones when traveling, as it'd allow you to have a far more accurate reading of your location which would let you get around and explore with ease.
Think of the potential strengths when considering something like hiking too, as you'd hypothetically have a much stronger signal in previously inaccessible areas, which would give you assurances against getting lost and getting hurt too.
Undeniably the ingredients greatest strength though would be in the aforementioned self-driving cars, so expect Elon Musk, Tesla, and all other major manufacturers to be all over this.
The significantly increased accuracy would make them much safer on the roads, and being able to track the location of other cars down to miniscule numbers would dramatically decrease the risk of crashes, especially in high speed scenarios.
The elephant in the room then is the price, which at £110,000,000 per gram remains rather prohibitive in the world of consumer technology.
I doubt that anyone would be happy to fork up the cost of including this ingredient at its current price - regardless of how useful it is - so something will have to budge.
You'd just hope that further research into the topic and an increase in supply would drive the price down, allowing it to then be integrated into gadgets that you and I can use on the daily.
