Technological Advancements in Medical Sciences

Since the creation of eyeglasses and the stethoscope, medical technology has advanced significantly. The healthcare sector is transforming as a result of the increased accessibility to mobile internet, the growth of an affluent middle class, and an ageing global population, and the corresponding technology is evolving more quickly than before. More than a billion individuals will require reskilling in medical technology by 2030, according to a World Economic Forum analysis of the healthcare sector. There are already coordinated initiatives to combine many of the most intriguing new medical technology together. The Covid-19 pandemic pushed healthcare into the future in 2020 and 2021, and as a result, several potential medical innovations underwent extensive testing.

1. Mixed Reality Applications

Technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality are all creating new sensory landscapes for people. The distinctions between these technologies, however initially seeming arbitrary, have a significant impact on how they might be applied in healthcare. Mixed reality is able to interact with the real world while projecting digital information into it, whereas augmented reality (AR) allows users to see the real world and projects digital information onto the existing environment, virtual reality (VR) completely shuts out all other sounds and provides an entire simulation. Thus, AR can be used by surgeons to project potentially life-saving information into their field of vision during operations, VR can be effectively used in psychiatry to treat phobias, and mixed reality can bring novel innovations to medical education, pre-operative surgical planning, and other fields.

2. Brain-Computer Interfaces for the Paralyzed

Cochlear implants and retinal implants, the latter of which the FDA approved in 2013, are the first neuroprosthetics available for purchase. Additionally, implants for those who have Parkinson's disease send electrical pulses deep into the brain, activating some of the motor control-related neural circuits. Brain implant therapy for patients paralysed by spinal cord injury or other neurological impairment are less common but still in use. To regain some mobility and communication, a chip implanted in the brain receives electrical signals and translates them using a computer. It will truly work its magic when combined with an exoskeleton.

3. 3-D Printing Drugs

The FDA authorised the use of the 3D-printed epilepsy medication Spritam in August 2015. To make the powdered medication dissolve more quickly than standard tablets, it is printed out layer by layer. According to a June 2015 article in the UK's Daily Mail, University College London researchers are experimenting with 3D printing medications in unusual shapes like dinosaurs or octopuses to make it easier for children to take pills. Professors Abdul Basit and Simon Gaisford founded FabRx in 2014 after seeing the enormous potential of 3D printing in the fields of medicine and pharmaceuticals. Within the next five to ten years, they predicted to be able to sell printed tablets, according to The Medical Futurist.

4. Artificial Food

The Cultured Beef Project researchers take muscle cells from a cow's shoulder, nourish them in a Petri dish with a nutrient mixture, and watch as they develop into muscular tissue. Tons of meat can be produced from a small number of starting cells. In 2013, the Netherlands-based startup Mosa Meat debuted its first hamburger in London. They want to make fake beef widely available in the following three to four years. As part of the effort to mass-produce cultured meat, two Israeli start-ups—SuperMeat in Tel Aviv and the Modern Agriculture Foundation (MAF) in Ramat Gan—are growing chicken meat in their labs. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley-based Finless Foods promises to use real fish meat made from stem cells to produce more sustainable seafood.

5. Voice control for Diagnosis

Scientists discovered that patient voice traits, or vocal biomarkers as they are known in medicine, disclose a lot about their health and aid in the early detection of significant illnesses and health hazards. For instance, the Israeli business Beyond Verbal specialises in emotion analytics and sells voice recognition software. It has declared that a group of patients had their coronary artery disease (CAD) successfully identified thanks to its algorithms. However, we anticipate that there will be a lot more options in the future. Sonde Health Inc., a Boston-based firm, is another effort that develops a voice-based technology platform for monitoring and diagnosing mental and physical medical issues.