How Technology Has Changed Our Lives

Technological progress doesn’t stand still. Do you realize how technology has changed our lives? Every day it makes the life of thousands of people better and more comfortable. If we look back into history, we will find out that for the last hundred years mankind has invented and developed more things than the millennium before. Half a century ago, few imagined people would use mobile phones, computers, the internet, robots, and more in real life.

In the following sample you can find out more about how technology has changed our lives. Here, the author discusses such technologies that increase the lifespan and quality of life: the invention of artificial organs, an exoskeleton for people with special needs, and more. Hopefully this sample will help you handle your own assignment with ease! For the cases when you can’t manage the assignment by yourself, feel free to contact our experts from Assignment.EssayShark.com for help. Our service offers expert help with a variety of disciplines: engineering, biology, IT, chemistry, and more! All you need is to include specifications about your assignment, set the due date, and get a completed work without any effort.

Future Technologies That Will Transform Our Lives

In this guide I will cover the technologies which will steadily gain popularity and definitely change our lives in the coming decades.

The End of the “Oil Curse”

Gas hydrates are methane molecules “plastered” around the water molecules. Such a “gas cell” exists with the help of a certain combination of temperature and pressure: for example, at zero temperature the pressure should be at least 25 atmospheres. Such pressure and temperature is found at a sea depth of 250 meters and more.

Externally, gas hydrates are similar to dirty snow or crystals, which rapidly evaporate on the surface. If you ignite them, they will burn with a hot flame. This is not surprising; there are almost 180 liters of methane from one liter of hydrate.

The world gas market may change dramatically. Now the global methane reserves in the usual sources store about 180 trillion cubic meters. Shale deposits store about 240 trillion cubic meters of methane. In total, it is somewhere around 420 trillion cubic meters.

But the total amount of methane in submarine gas hydrates is estimated at 20 thousand trillion cubic meters, which is 50 times more than on land. These reserves will last for several centuries.

This Japanese technology could open up huge opportunities for different countries of the world with access to the sea. And methane gas can become the basis of our energy for a long time: as fuel for power plants, and as a source of energy for vehicles.

Artificial Organs

Soon, people will change the organs in their bodies as they do parts in a car. Today, doctors can transplant most organs: kidneys, lungs, heart, liver, even corneas. But the organ transplantation requires a donor, whether alive or dead. However, there are always less donors than people in need. And the more the transplantation is developed, the greater the shortage of organs. But cell technologies that will help to solve this problem are developed in parallel.

Stem cells, which turn into cells of any tissue and organ, have long been known. In 2006, Japanese biologist Shinya Yamanaka “turned back the clock” and turned a mature, differentiated cell back into a stem state. Thanks to this work he became famous all over the world and received the Nobel prize. It was well-deserved: after all, if we can obtain stem cells, they can be used to repair damaged organs and even grow new ones.

In fact, this is already being done. For example, a partial repair of the heart is already possible in laboratory experiments, when the stem cells replace scar tissue after a heart attack. For this, the cells of the scar are reprogrammed using special substances that regulate the activity of genes and the growth of blood vessels in the scar, and eventually healthy heart muscle forms there.
For now there have been numerous successful experiments carried out on mice. Scientists are not ready to begin clinical trials on humans, however, but according to researchers, these problems can be resolved within the next five to ten years.

Personal Jetpacks

Fly free, landing wherever you want, well, almost everywhere: is this not the dream of man, which is realized only in pleasant dreams? Enthusiasts of the New Zealand company Martin Jetpack are persistently approaching this dream. In August 2013, the flying device called the “Prototype 12” passed regulations for conducting piloted tests in free flight outdoors. This is a crucial stage in the process of certification of ultralight aircraft.

The device works using a standard aircraft internal combustion engine, which rotates two fans. Due to this, the question of fuel is not worth it. The rejection of jet engines allowed to significantly save on fuel, as the current prototype can already stay in the air for half an hour, which is unthinkable for jet and rocket engines. To facilitate flight there is the autopilot, and it can potentially take a person to the place itself, and it is only necessary to specify where.

The jetpack is demanded by rescue workers, firefighters, police, and possibly military. It can be an effective transport for medium distances to cope with natural barriers: rivers, lakes, bays, and mountains.

Exoskeleton for the Elderly and People with Disabilities

The proportion of older people is increasing in developed countries. Therefore, the task of maximizing long and full human life slowly comes to the fore. Moreover, demographic changes will inevitably increase the retirement age. One of the main problems is to facilitate moving for people who can not walk as easily as in their younger years because of age or illness. And the elderly should have the opportunity to move not only from the TV to the toilet, but to work, to sporting events, and anywhere in general, to live a full social life.

The device developed by the Japanese company Cyberdyne is a complete robotic exoskeleton HAL. It allows the wearer to facilitate movement of the entire body, including the arms, legs, and torso. This system works offline for about two hours and a half, primarily designed for the rehabilitation of disabled and injured people.

Honda has created something less noticeable, but more capable for mass production in the future. We are talking about the Walk assist: an exoskeleton for the legs, with or without the support of weight. The one without the support of weight just helps the thighs and buttock muscles to work. The system with enabled weight support allows the wearer to squat, walk up the stairs, and work on a conveyor system for a long time. With such exoskeletons older people will be able to live an active life longer.

Personal Medication

Most human diseases are at least partly determined by genes. Depending on the configuration of certain genes and their combinations, a person can have a predisposition to heart attack, diabetes, or cancer. Even susceptibility to depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental diseases depends on genes. The more scientists learn about the hereditary nature and the molecular mechanisms of development of these diseases, the more they create ideas on how people can individually choose the treatment.

Now, this method is used in the selection of cancer therapy. For example, modern biological drugs (like Herceptin) cost several thousand dollars per injection and work effectively, but only in those patients whose cancer is caused by specific mutations. Before assigning such expensive treatment, doctors will determine whether it is good for the exact patient through DNA testing. In the future, a personalized approach may allow patients to refuse such heavy artillery as conventional chemotherapy, which is known for poor tolerance and numerous side effects.

In addition to oncology, a personalized approach can be effective in the treatment of pain, especially for those which are powerless against conventional analgesics, as well as in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and immune disorders.

Thus, soon medicines will be established, as in the days when the pharmacist mixed the powders individually for each patient. Of course, it will occur on a qualitatively new level: for example, using special printers that print tablets.

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