A major shift in radio design is now just beginning which attempts to share spectrum in a fundamentally new way. These radios are addressing the fact that spectrum is actually poorly utilized in many bands, in spite of the increasing demand for wireless connectivity. The new approaches to spectrum sharing make use of the advances in technology to implement new wireless systems that can share previously allocated spectra in such a way that the primary users of these spectra are not affected. Additionally, the allowed use of this band is on an unlicensed basis. Two methods that are being investigated to accomplish this task are the use of ultra wideband transmission and cognitive techniques. Ultra wideband transmission relies on the fact that if the bandwidth is increased, that reliable data transmission can occur even at power levels so low that primary radios in the same spectral bands are not affected. On the other hand the cognitive approach does not necessarily limit the transmission power, but rather attempts to share the spectra through a dynamic avoidance strategy. The opportunities and challenges of this new era in radio design are described along with the open questions in their implementation