Technology has the power to transform the world. Today we live in a world that’s tech-driven. Put simply, it’s not the humans who are ruling the world, but it’s technology. Can you name at least one instance where you are not dependent on technology? Can’t even think of one, right? Technology has made our lives so simple and easy that we would feel handicapped if technology is stolen away from us. And in recent years, technology is evolving at unimaginable speeds, paving the way for the things that we once thought impossible.

This blog highlights such amazing technologies that are going to shape or are already shaping our future. Without further ado, let’s deep dive into the following 5 amazing technologies.

5 Amazing Technologies That Are Shaping the Future

1. 3D Printing

3D printing is revolutionizing almost all the industries – beauty, food, medicine, jewelry – you name it and 3D printing definitely has a part to play.  The most important of all, its contribution to the medical world cannot be emphasized enough. With 3D printing being able to produce artificial body parts – patients who are looking forward to having body parts implants like limbs, hands, and so on are seeing a ray of hope and happiness enter into their lives. This branch of technology is called 3D printing prosthetics.  

2. Virtual Patients

Whenever there is a new virus haunting the human world, scientists quickly get on with inventing a vaccine to treat the same. And once invented, they would want to try it on a sample of human beings to see the effectiveness of the vaccine – whether it’s functioning the way the scientists thought it would. This needs to stop! What if something happens to the people who were part of this vaccine trial? This has always been a gray area. But not anymore! 

Yes, you heard it right – technology has made virtual patients a reality. The idea behind this is simple: replacing humans with simulations could make drug trials faster, safer, and cheaper.  This is how it works: data from the high-resolution images of human organs are fed into an algorithm, thereby producing virtual organs programmed to look and behave like the real organ. And because these virtual organs resemble actual human organs, they can be used in place of people when it comes to testing a new medicine in its early stages. Amazing, isn’t it? This means no more vaccine testing on humans and animals. All hail, technology!

3. Microneedles for Painless Injections

Yes, microneedles are one of the amazing technologies that are transforming the healthcare sector.

Did you know? Microneedles are just about the width of human hair. Because of this, they can easily penetrate the skin while barely touching nerve endings. Not just that, they can even be attached to patchers or even mixed into creams. 

Today, these needles are proving to be extremely useful by helping deliver blood tests and treatments to under-served communities as they don’t require costly equipment or a lot of training.

4. Skintrack

Picture this, you are using your palm to make a call via your smartwatch by just hovering a finger over your hand which is acting as a cursor on the dial pad! Insane, isn’t it? Yes, your arm becoming a smart screen is not a piece of fiction anymore, it is indeed possible today. Human-Computer Interaction Institute’s Future Interfaces Group developed a new technology called ‘Skintrack’ that makes this possible with the help of a smartwatch. Yes, you heard it right – all you need is a smartwatch and then you can use your entire arm or a part of it as a screen. Mind-blowing isn’t it?

This is how it works: Skintrack expands your smartwatch’s “touchscreen” over your entire hand and arm, provided you wear a special ring, which propagates a low-energy, high-frequency signal through the skin when the finger touches or nears the skin surface. This, in turn, makes it possible to move interactions from the screen onto the arm, providing a much larger interface,” says Chris Harrison, assistant professor in the HCII and adviser to the research.

5. Green Hydrogen

Hope you paid attention in your chemistry class because I am going to ask you a fun trivia question :P: What happens when hydrogen burns?

If you got this right, then I want you to give yourself a pat on the back! 🙂 

Yes, you are right – it produces water. 

And when it’s produced via electrolysis using renewable energy, it becomes ‘green’. Now, when the world is talking about going green and businesses are investing and supporting the same, this green hydrogen could play a key role in decarbonizing sectors like shipping. Not just that, it can even become a $12 Trillion market by 2050. Only the future can tell us! Let’s wait and see what the future holds for all of us when it comes to new technologies.