If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. We’re alive in the climax of the Digital Revolution, and even medicine has found its way in benefiting from recent technology advancements with nanotechnology. This field includes ingestible “Smart Pill” capsules, nanobots capable of performing human surgeries, and “smart” microscopes, bandages, and vaccines. Astonishingly enough, by 2024, the global nanotech market is expected to reach $125 billion, while the global smart pill market is to reach $650 million the following year.
Smart Pills began making noise in 2001, when PillCam was the first ingestible camera to be approved by the FDA. By 2008, PillCams was used in more than 2 million medical procedures. There are also Dose Tracking Pills (although this raises some ethical questions) that include sensors logging patient data to a corresponding app. This log can be shared with doctors, family, and others. The Vibrant Capsule takes a more hands-on approach, promoting muscle contractions to jumpstart digestion. This list goes on.
As previously mentioned, researchers around the world are developing skilled ‘nanobots’ that can perform a wide range of surgeries on humans. They will be programmed and guided with external magnetic fields. Nanobots can perform eye surgeries with needles, clear blocked arteries by drilling a corkscrew through arterial blockages, and collect biopsies.
The list goes of available nanotechnology goes on, as does medical and technological advancement. Scroll down to read about the challenges for the future of nanotech, smart bandages, vaccines, and microscopes.
About the author: Demetrius Harrison is a junior promotions specialist at NowSourcing, a Louisville, Ky., and Cincinnati, Ohio-based infographic design agency. When he isn’t sharing infographics with the world, you can find him at the skate park, a wide-range of concerts, or in the classroom completing his Marketing & Sociology bachelor’s degree. Connect with Demetrius via Linkedin, Twitter, or email.
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