Everything is getting smaller from assisted living contact lenses that ensure you don’t take the wrong medication when you get older to nanobots performing a number of medical functions.
Basic nanomachines are already in use today with nanobots being the next generation of nanomachines. Nanobots will be able to autonomously move through our system and perform micro-surgery as they go. As we ‘go smaller,’ nanobots will not only work inside of us, but they’ll perform miracles on the lab side as well.
Engineers have been able to shrink a laboratory onto a chip as well as turn a cell phone into a microscope. We’ll also be able to use nanobots to augment our blood supply and our immune system, as well as clean out our arteries.
Other developments I learned in a lecture by Stanford’s Daniel Kraft who was addressing Singularity University students at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, were around regenerative medicine, stem cell research and bone marrow transplants.
In treating cancer, there are many more targeted treatments happening, such as diagnostics that are more specific and less invasive. They’re doing research with animals, where dogs can detect through ‘smell’ whether someone is ‘diseased’ or not. They’re currently working on nano-based noses that can very reliably predict who has disease and who doesn’t. In the future, a breathalyzer test may be enough to detect whether someone has cancer or not…..and a dog’s nose might be your screen.
Stem cells allow you to do a number of important things, including re-grow skin and build new limbs. Merely turning on the right genes in the right order allows for the possibility of re-creating a new limb if you have lost one.
In order to be a stem cell, the cell has to be able to self-renew as well as give rise to mature, specialized cells. As for stem cell sources, you can harvest stem cells through bone marrow as well as through your blood and other places.
“Stem cells seem to know where to go and what to do when put in the right environment,” says Daniel. He gives us examples of regrowth and re-creation using stem cells, including the possibility of rebuilding a new bladder using your own cells on a scaffold. There are so many patients who die every year waiting for an organ. Imagine being able to re-create organs so the tragedy of lack of organs or the inability to recreate them is a thing of the past.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
