|
|
|
HEALTH-CARE
REFORM: A Vision of the Future
Shaun
Kerry, M.D.
Diplomate,
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
The problems in medical and
energy research lie in understanding and controlling
events at a sub-microscopic level. |
 |
 |
If
we can build machines atom
by atom, the possibilities are endless. One
such possibility would be a medical system that could cure
any disease.
The
only question is: "How long will it take?" This
depends primarily upon the efficiency
of our educational and governmental systems
and our ability to communicate these ideas
to the public.
Nanotechnology is
the science of building tiny machines; machines
that could
enter the human body and act as single-cell
laboratories to detect and repair any problems. For
example, Swedish scientists Edwin W.H. Jager
and Olle Inganäs are developing nanostructures
called actuators - mechanical devices that
can move or control things - to handle biological
materials such as single cells, bacteria, or
molecules in liquids like blood plasma, and
cell culture medium.
|
|
 |
|
The
tiny machines - extremely durable and capable
of a wide variety of tasks - are being developed and
studied in scores of laboratories all over the world. This
is critically important, because at present we don't
have the capability to measure many of the microbiological
processes in the body. |
| Lyme
disease, for example, is a chronic and crippling disease
caused by several
types of bacteria. At present, there is no reliable
test for this illness, and no cure. We must develop
tools that can decipher the vast array of events that
occur within our bodies on a molecular level, and nanotechnology
offers very promising assistance.
Chip
technology doubles every eighteen months. By
the year 2020, chips will likely have
the raw processing power of the human brain,
and will forever exceed it after that. We
already place chip implants in inner ears to
improve hearing and in retinas to give limited
sight to the blind, yet when one goes to a doctor
seeking treatment of a chronic illness, the doctor
is likely to simply take the patient's blood
pressure; poke him a few times; and with some
guesswork, write out an expensive prescription
that may or may not work.
In
light of the technology discussed
above, a blood pressure instrument seems
a very primitive tool, most commonly used as
ritual, rather than to gain useful information
on the patient's condition. We have proven
that we have the capacity to work miracles,
and yet for the most part, our methods are
clumsy and ineffectual.
Links: Zyvex
Nanotechnology Nanodot.org Nanozine News
PRINTABLE PAGE | BACK | TOP | NEXT | PRINTABLE SITE
|
|
|
