Technology has fast become an integral part of our everyday lives and this shows no signs of changing. As we become more reliant on computers and AI, the world is becoming more and more digital. In 2018, some amazing breakthrough technologies have come to light that could shape the way we live in the not so distant future. At DotCom Magazine we picked out five of our favorites and these are discussed briefly in the following article.
Augmented Reality
Yes, we know that AR is not a new concept, as many millions of people have played PokemonGo and have car displays with special guides to aid their parking. However, what has become abundantly clear in recent years and particularly in 2018 is the shift towards the mainstream and the use of animation and information overlaid onto real world images in more sophisticated ways that are useful to us on a day to day basis. Developments include AR that will help surgeons to visualize the tissues beneath the skin of their patients in full 3D and holographic-style guides for tours of museums.
Medicine that is Personalized
Cutting-edge diagnostic tools are being developed that will help to make all your medication bespoke to your own specific needs, by identifying and looking at numerous signs of diseases and conditions that will help to ascertain how possible it is for you to get that particular disorder or disease. There are several tools already being used with cancer patients. One can help women avoid chemotherapy if they have specific kinds of breast cancer, and can be utilized in the diagnosis of endometriosis, without any surgery being involved. It can also be used for identifying many disorders that affect the brain such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and autism.
Better Digital Helpers
We are all familiar with Alexa and Siri and many of us rely on our interactions with AI on a day to day basis. soon though, we will have access to more powerful and complex digital assistants. Using AI, there is tech that can look through the cloud and present you with a variety of arguments related to topics you are interested in, without any prior training. The real-world application of this is exciting – assisting doctors in finding the research relevant to a complex medical case they have and then weighing up the various treatments there are.
Lab-Grown Meat
Although it doesn’t sound particularly appetizing when you think about it too much, there are already a number of start-ups working on an ethical way to produce meat in a lab that doesn’t involve treating animals badly. While the taste tests are mixed at best and the product costs sky high at the moment, the fact that the tech involved is improving all the time, suggests that beef, chicken and duck that have not been made through animals suffering could be closer to reaching your kitchen than you may think.
Drug-Making Cells that can be Implanted Inside You
If you’ve ever been on a course of medication and had trouble remembering to take them, this idea may sound particularly interesting. Before, implanting was very limited in its capabilities because immune-suppressants were required to stop the body from attacking the implant. Now though, there have been developments that mean the process can work without the immune system rejecting the implant and could create new and more effective ways to treat long-term diseases and conditions such as chronic pain, cancer, diabetes, TB and cardiovascular disease.
