6. Medical checkups will be conducted via cellphone
Technology isn’t a problem when it comes to this advancements. Scientists are currently plugging away trying to perfect apps that can measure heart and respiration rates, perform blood and saliva tests and even listen to and evaluate your cough.
Imagine being able to simply give a blood sample through a cell phone peripheral or simply coughing into the receiver to have that bronchitis that you know you have diagnosed, all without having to walk into a doctor’s office or pay those ridiculous co-pays. Of course, it might take awhile for, you know, human doctors to embrace that kind of advancement.
7. Highways will handle three times the amount of cars
As a result of some diligent research done at Columbia University, it was determined that vehicles driven by humans use, at best, a mere 5 percent of a highway’s road surface at any given time.
Should we let technology politely assert itself into the equation, we could significantly reduce the volume of traffic. In an extremely cool example, Volvo’s semi-autonomous road train tech wirelessly connects a stream of cars to a truck being driven by a professional.
As the people in the cars sit back and sip caramel macchiatos, their self-driving cars mimic the speed and steering of the lead vehicle, effectively creating an efficient motorcade that decreases the gaps and increases fuel efficiency, all by mostly removing human error and road rage from the equation.
8. Radiation sickness will be curable via injections
Naturally, the Department of Defense is interested in this particular advancement.
Several treatment options for radiation sickness are now aiming for FDA approval. In the clinical trials, one of the treatments, known as Ex-Rad, not only prevented long-term cell damage but also promoted bone marrow recovery.
9. Smart homes will itemize utility bills by fixture and appliance
30-year-old MacArthur Fellow Shwetak Patel is currently working on some low-cost sensors that monitor electrical changes in power lines to detect each appliance’s “signature”. He’s already used pressure changes to make the same detections in gas lines and water pipes.
With an itemized list of which appliance is using what percentage of power, it’s then up to the homeowner to determine where money can be saved.
10. Genetic testing will be used to stop epidemics in their tracks
In 2011, investigators at the National Human Genome Research Institute teamed up with doctors in Maryland to track the outbreak of a deadly bacterial infection and made a huge breakthrough. By using genome sequencing, they were able to identify minute mutations in the microbe, determine just how fast it spread, and quickly shut it down.
Source: Popular Mechanics
