Medical technology advancements

Technology has been improving our medical knowledge more and more each year for a very long time now and it doesn't plan on stopping. We have come very far in our medical field curing diseases, which were incurable before. Millions of people cured of seemed fatal diseases, which makes me wonder what’s going to be next big revelation in the medical field, which could potentially change our lives once again.

One of the recent examples to the medical technology advancements is the cancer and heart attack detector wristband that is currently being developed by Google. Its purpose is to detect any kinds of symptoms of cancers or upcoming heart attacks, strokes and other diseases. It will be achieved by giving the patient a pill with disease-detecting nanoparticles and tracking their activity with a sensor in a wristband. These nanoparticles will detect diseases even before the physical symptoms appear. Sometimes early diagnosis is the only way to get treated properly, because some of the cancers, such as pancreatic are detected only after curable stage when they are untreatable and fatal. Google wants to create nanoparticles for various medical conditions; some would haunt cancerous cells or DNA, others would keep track of chemicals in the blood, and many more. Nanoparticles are magnetic, so when requested they collect in one location and transfer data to the wristband, which detects any abnormalities. They are also very tiny, two thousand times smaller than a red blood cell, which allows them to circulate in a bloodstream and attach to cells freely.

Nanoparticle project is very risky and requires a lot of development and testing, before becoming public. It is still in its early development and no one even knows if it will ever be put in the market. The biggest risk is that it could lead to patient anxiety and unnecessary treatment if nanoparticles malfunction in any way. It is always very hard to implement something new without any flows in its system, same goes to the nanoparticle project. Even Google researchers, who are working on the project, are not fully sure if this type of blood monitoring will go beyond their lab. The only reason why Google is announcing their project is because they are seeking to establish partnership. The whole project is a long shot, but even if it is destined to fail, it is worth a try.

Nanoparticle project by Google is the next big thing in the modern medicine. Even if it is a so called “moonshot” it is very promising and I believe that it is worth all the risks to try. I think that the project can’t be considered failed, even if it fails, because it will bring a lot of useful data to the world whether it succeeds or not. And if Google manages to succeed, it will change our lives as we know them; advancing medical field yet one step further.

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