FUTURES OF HEALTH & PHARMA

In the era of curated experiences, food personalisation is on the cusp of becoming the next big health and wellness solution – but at what price for the consumer, and at what cost to those experiencing food insecurity? Can the industries involved collaborate to efficiently bring these bespoke foods to market without exacerbating (or possibly even alleviating) the global food shortage?

Although wider culinary options are pleasing us, unhealthy diets are inviting chronic illnesses and various health risks. We are urged to eat healthier while the emergence of new technologies and ingredients are rapidly changing our food world. Would you change your diet if your doctor would prescribe the secret ingredient for a healthy life?

A team at the Tel Aviv University in Israel has achieved a major breakthrough by 3D-printing a heart with human tissue and vessels. In the future, this technology could be used to repair damaged hearts or to print entirely new ones, to be used for transplants.

Microplastics, very small plastic fragments, less than 5 millimetres in length, can be found in several places. And there’s a lot of it. A 2015 study showed that there are between 93 and 236 metric tons of microplastics in the world’s oceans. They have also been found in freshwater ecosystems, in the soil, and even in the air. Even more worrying, they have been found inside a lot of animal species.

We always seem to be playing a cat-and-mouse game for all of our scientific advances. A bacteria or virus appears, and we develop antibiotics or antiviral drugs to deal with it. One worry is that our overprescribing of antibiotics will continue to lead to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with possibly devastating consequences.

It's estimated that by 2050, global food demand will increase between around 60% to 100%. We're already seeing some efforts at making rural areas more efficient at crop production. Laboratories are now attempting to lab-grown meat and other methods. Another promise, which has been frequently evoked lately, is vertical farming. But what exactly is it?

The big cities of the 2020s are a fascinating market for innovations across all walks of life. Let's look at 22 trends that will likely make impacts on the future of cities. In this study, we use a comprehensive foresight tool to set up a process of anticipating changes.

Many years ago, in movies, we used to see someone have their eye scanned to enter a vault or put their fingerprint on a pad to open a futuristic door. But these once futuristic biometric technologies have now started to work their way into our every-day lives. Are microchips next?

The last time you went to the doctor, how long were you stuck sitting in the waiting room? Unfortunately, for many the answer is usually, “Too long!” You can only read so many 5-year-old magazines before losing patience… However,, thanks to telehealth, this tradition of long wait times might soon come to an end.

Robotics is changing the future of healthcare. From restoring people's lost abilities to highly precise surgical operations, the potential is enormous. But robots in healthcare can be small too. So small that they can reach almost anywhere inside your body and deliver a highly targeted cure.

Imagine taking a small device out of your pocket, pointing it at a piece of food, and getting its exact composition and nutritional values. With these food scanners, you might. You could count its calories, know all its ingredients, and know whether it is spoiled or contaminated.

Dry heat and drought in one season and flooding rains in another is part and parcel of our global food futures to 2050. Also on the radar is a tidal wave of change caused by global warming, population growth, digital futures and deep systemic issues in food futures to 2050 and beyond. These issues are influencing food security, scarcity and trends like biotechnology and precision agriculture in the food industry.

Clean water and food shortages are two of the world’s pressing problems which require urgent solutions as the population grows and the climate change evolves. As unbelievable as it may sound, new technologies could help us to answer this challenge by harvesting water and food out of thin air.

Scientists are not only trying to enhance human abilities with new technologies, but also creating plants with superpowers. Several successful experiments on flowers and vegetables have been conducted, and the field is developing rapidly. If you haven’t heard about green cyborgs yet, it's time to learn about their future potential!

Scientists have just used the gene-editing CRISPR technology to eliminate a family of viruses in pigs that could be transmitted to humans in transplants or other cases. This new gene-editing technology is here to stay and can profoundly impact genetics as we know it. It may also prove to be a way to eliminate the risks involved with animal-to-human transplants, which could save millions of lives every year.

Data and AI technologies are driving the development of our industries; and a demand for experts in STEM-related fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), and wages paid in those jobs, are growing fast in many countries.

Czech scientists from a research group at the Brno University of Technology developed a mechanical and computer model, with the aid of 3D printing, that allows them to simulate a variety of biological conditions, like asthma and other chronic afflictions. It can help us understand the diseases better, devise optimal treatment courses, and even help doctors practice surgeries with precision.

The alcohol industry is used to competition but not so much to disruption. It has some of the most devout followers and healthiest profit margins of any industry. But some people are trying to bring change to the industry, whether by creating wine in a laboratory or by getting rid of alcohol entirely. Are their efforts being rewarded?

In February 2017, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) released a report on the science, ethics and governance of genetically engineering human beings. This was spurred by the rapid development of the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR/Cas9.

Why are governments investing so much in precision medicine? Why are genomics companies like Illumina or Agilent Technologies, who many of us have never heard of, worth billions more than Snap, Inc or Twitter?

In 2013, Dr. Mark Post and his team at Maastricht University created the first “cultured” burger in the world. Made from muscle-specific stem cells from real cows and later cultured into fibers of muscle tissue thrown together to form a patty, the burger was fully grown in a laboratory. Its cost? US$ 331,000, making it the most expensive burger in the world. Billionaire and Google co-founder Sergey Brin paid the bill.

Mass death of bees has led to loss of productivity in farmed crops as they do not pollinate the way they used to. To bee or not to bee is ecologically a larger question than this. Recent studies show that a chemical cocktail from farming including pesticides and insecticides has spread to wild flora as well. It is possible that future farming will have to become organic to continue.

With human population numbers increasing, we can expect the demand for food to continue to grow too. This trend suggests we will have to produce more food to meet that demand, or reduce the food waste we currently create. In this article, we discuss how something uncommon to Western nations - eating insects - might be the solution.

3D-printed foods aren't a new thing. Or, rather, they are - but the hype around them is not. Ever since additive manufacturing started to become more popularized, in the early years of the 2010s, many started speculating what it would be able to do with food. After all the hype, we can say that it has, to a good extend, delivered on its promises.

Depression is a serious illness. More than "the blues," it is a mental condition that, if left untreated, can have serious consequences. It doesn't just affect one's activities in his or her daily life. It can result in severe mental and physical issues in the long term. And, for many people, it's a reoccurring disorder. And despite it being so common, we still struggle to fully understand it and treat it. Now virtual reality is helping us do both.

Exoskeletons exist all around us. Animals such as grasshoppers, cockroaches, and lobsters all have them. For them, exoskeletons provide protection and support, among serving other functions. What if we could allow human beings to experience the same benefits, while at the same time increasing their strength, precision, and power?