he headlines shocked the world. The experiments were of science fiction proportions, the stuff of a futuristic society the world didn’t realize it was already living in. The scientist responsible was told that he would pay for his experimentation—he is currently serving jailtime alongside two of his associates. Indeed, the 2018 declaration that Dr. He Jiankui had used CRISPR to alter the genomes of twin babies shocked the world and made many weary of the potential consequences of gene-editing technology.
If CRISPR is any indication, the future will be rife with technologies humans can use to modify their genetic material and improve their natural capabilities. These technologies can be anything from gene editing to prosthetic technology to wearable technology. Additionally, outside of technologies crafted through biology or biomedical engineering, several companies are looking for new ways to get technologies to patients, or simply wondering what such rapid advances in technology will mean for the future of humanity. If advances like CRISPR and brain-powered prosthetics are any indication, this future will be nothing less of fantastic.
The Future of Gene Editing
CRISPR has gained the most popular press discourse over the last few years for its use in gene editing applications. The technology was first discovered by accident, and at the time of its discovery, researchers didn’t even know what the repeated segments of genetic code could possibly mean. While studying the gene that converts alkaline phosphatase, Dr. Yoshizumi Ishino and his team became the first researchers to encounter what would become known as CRISPRs (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). CRISPRs are repeating DNA segments found in the genetic records of simple organisms like bacteria. In simple organisms, CRISPR proteins splice genetic information from viruses to boost immunity to disease. In 2012, this technology was used for the first time to modify genes, making CRISPR one of the most promising genetic tools of the 21st century.
CRISPR can be used in a wide variety of applications outside of gene editing. For some conditions, CRISPR can help researchers isolate the genetic mutations that are causing the disorder. This approach has helped scientists understand how they might treat a variety of conditions, from seizure disorders to Parkinson’s disease. However, its CRISPR’s work in gene editing applications that has drawn the most attention and concern. The most serious concerns arise when researchers talk about applying CRISPR techniques for germline cell editing, which would affect all of an organism’s cells, including its reproductive cells, meaning that the CRISPR changes would affect its offspring. Though this kind of genetic editing can help end devastating genetic diseases, it also leads to concerns about designer babies genetically engineered to be more intelligent or athletic. Part of the reason Dr. He’s designer babies were so shocking, for example, was because they were genetically engineered to be resistant to HIV– a genetic edit that many professionals viewed as unnecessary in a world where other techniques can prevent babies from being born HIV-positive.
Changing Technology Inside and Outside of the Body
However, some bioengineering technologies have been much less controversial than CRISPR. Bionic limbs, which use muscle signals to move more naturally than traditional prosthetics, have been the site of many recent technological innovations and promise more innovation in years to come. Some of the first prosthetics which allowed users to move their artificial limbs more naturally included myoelectric limbs, which use electronic sensors to detect small traces of electrical activity in what is left of an amputated limb and sends the information to microprocessors which move the prosthetic. Traditional myoelectric prosthetics, however, require external power, meaning that users may have to carry additional batteries or plug their prosthetic into a charging unit.
Osseointegration is the gateway into the future of myoelectric prosthetics. Under osseointegration, a bionic arm is surgically attached to a patient’s bones . Older arm prosthetics need to be attached to a user’s arm via a tight compression cup, making the osseointegration method a win for user comfort. The process has provided the first opportunity for what are known as brain-controlled prosthetics. Earlier this year, Swedish researchers unveiled a bionic arm that can become connected to the human brain through osseointegration. The technology makes use of electrodes implanted in the amputee’s nerves and muscles which pick up on brain signals and allow them to use their prosthetics more precisely. A series of brain signals help guide the prosthetic and create the illusion of touch. The electrodes help move the prosthetic finger after they receive the proper brain signal instructing them to do so, and once the prosthetic finger moves, the brain signal is directed to the sensors wrapping about the nerves, which allows the nerves to send signals back to the brain, creating a “touch” sensation.
During the Swedish study, three participants were given a brain-controlled prosthetic and lived with the devices for seven years while researchers tracked their experiences. Researchers are optimistic that the technology will eventually become widely used; however, the brain-controlled osseointegrated limbs are incredibly expensive, especially in states that don’t offer robust healthcare coverage. However, as the technology becomes more widely studied at different world universities, costs may eventually be lowered as other researchers produce brain-controlled prosthetics.
While brain-controlled prosthetics promise revolutionary changes for devices outside of the body, 3D printed organs promise radical change inside the body. 3D printing technology gives scientists the kind of precision in technology they need to realistically arrange cells into functioning organs. 3D printed organs might also prevent the immune system rejection that can result from a donor transplant. Since the technology would use the patient’s own cells to transplant a printed organ, there is less risk that the immune system would reject the organ because it didn’t recognize it as its own. In the past few years, researchers have been able to successfully print portions of organs but haven’t yet succeeded in printing a whole organ.
One of the biggest challenges in successfully printing 3D organs is providing them with blood supply. Researchers at Rice University in the U.S. began to overcome this challenge last year when they successfully vascularized a 3D-printed lung. The year before, another research team at the Wyss Institute 3D printed a heart ventricle with blood vessels. The research results from both studies promise that 3D printed organs may be available sooner than we think.
A Changing World of Wearable Technology
Wearables are another technology that is supposed to improve within the next several years. The term “wearable” refers to any electronic technology that can be comfortably worn inside or outside the body to track information in real time. Some popular wearables on the market currently include smart watches which allow users to receive messages and social media updates on their timepiece and fitness trackers which count calories while the user is exercising. Wearables are expected to become less visible as they gain popularity over the next several years. Further, power methods such as energy harvesting (which consists of using body heat or solar energy to power devices) are expected to become an alternative energy source for wearables, which currently don’t have a very long battery life.
Additionally, wearables are expected to move beyond the personal device sector and into a variety of industries. Some expect wearables to converge with home security technology, allowing a user’s heartbeat signature vis a vis a wearable to unlock a front door smartlock or having a wearable interface with a thermostat to control the room temperature based on body temperature. In the medical industry, there is experimentation with health trackers that will move beyond what popular devices like Fitbit are capable of to track the effects of drugs or measure other vitals. These devices would be embedded underneath a user’s skin to track a variety of health datapoints.
Some even think wearables will evolve into a kind of human exoskeleton. In humans, the term “exoskeleton” refers to a kind of wearable robot that can be worn to optimize human performance. In manufacturing and industrial occupations, exoskeletons might help protect workers from injury and boost worker performance. This technology has already been introduced in some occupations. In 2018, Hyundai revealed their model of an exoskeleton that’s designed to reduce neck and back pain for automobile manufacturers. Other companies are expected to follow their lead in the next few years.
The Companies Paving the Way
As biohacking technologies become more ubiquitous, several companies are using the advances to help others in ways never possible before. NeuroTech is an American company revolutionizing the way electroencephalograms (EEGs) are conducted. EEGs measure electric activity in the brain, used to diagnose conditions such as epilepsy. Some EEGs take less than an hour, but some requiring video footage, known as video telemetry, can take a few days to record and require a hospital stay. NeuroTech revolutionizes EEG testing by making it available in the home. Technologists monitor the EEGs remotely, and they can adjust the electrodes used to measure brain activity from afar if needed. This can save users thousands of dollars in hospital stays and make EEG testing more accessible.
Other companies seek to increase collaboration across different biotechnology industries. MedTech is an association connecting professionals across pharmaceutical companies, medical technology companies, and research universities. Together, MedTech associates work to share information relevant to future advances in biology and medicine—a crucial connection in a world that went from discovering CRISPR as a mode of editing genes to modifying human embryos in less than a decade.
Other companies in the biotech space are concerned about what the future of biotechnology might mean for humanity. Humanity+ is a non-profit that seeks to explain how science and technology will affect the future of the human race. The organization hosts international conferences, publishes a magazine, and invests in research and development. Humanity+ follows a set of philosophies broadly grouped as transhumanism, which explores the relationship between the future of humanity and rapidly accelerating technology. Of particular interest to Humanity+ is biotechnology—and with all of the advances in the sector from the last thirty years, who can blame them?
The future of humanity holds rumors of designer babies, wearable technology that can use our body temperature to lower the thermostat, and prosthetics that can allow amputees to regain sensations they thought they had lost forever. Clearly, more than one organization will have to take charge of exploring the questions that will arise as we progress towards the fantastic future of biotechnology.
a global affairs media network
The Technologies Advancing the Future of Humanity
December 27, 2020
Augmented humans aren't starry-eyed visions of the future—they're walking among us right now. From cochlear implants to robotic limbs controlled by our minds, the fields of biotechnology and gene editing are allowing us to dictate evolution and engineer a new kind of human.
T
he headlines shocked the world. The experiments were of science fiction proportions, the stuff of a futuristic society the world didn’t realize it was already living in. The scientist responsible was told that he would pay for his experimentation—he is currently serving jailtime alongside two of his associates. Indeed, the 2018 declaration that Dr. He Jiankui had used CRISPR to alter the genomes of twin babies shocked the world and made many weary of the potential consequences of gene-editing technology.
If CRISPR is any indication, the future will be rife with technologies humans can use to modify their genetic material and improve their natural capabilities. These technologies can be anything from gene editing to prosthetic technology to wearable technology. Additionally, outside of technologies crafted through biology or biomedical engineering, several companies are looking for new ways to get technologies to patients, or simply wondering what such rapid advances in technology will mean for the future of humanity. If advances like CRISPR and brain-powered prosthetics are any indication, this future will be nothing less of fantastic.
The Future of Gene Editing
CRISPR has gained the most popular press discourse over the last few years for its use in gene editing applications. The technology was first discovered by accident, and at the time of its discovery, researchers didn’t even know what the repeated segments of genetic code could possibly mean. While studying the gene that converts alkaline phosphatase, Dr. Yoshizumi Ishino and his team became the first researchers to encounter what would become known as CRISPRs (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). CRISPRs are repeating DNA segments found in the genetic records of simple organisms like bacteria. In simple organisms, CRISPR proteins splice genetic information from viruses to boost immunity to disease. In 2012, this technology was used for the first time to modify genes, making CRISPR one of the most promising genetic tools of the 21st century.
CRISPR can be used in a wide variety of applications outside of gene editing. For some conditions, CRISPR can help researchers isolate the genetic mutations that are causing the disorder. This approach has helped scientists understand how they might treat a variety of conditions, from seizure disorders to Parkinson’s disease. However, its CRISPR’s work in gene editing applications that has drawn the most attention and concern. The most serious concerns arise when researchers talk about applying CRISPR techniques for germline cell editing, which would affect all of an organism’s cells, including its reproductive cells, meaning that the CRISPR changes would affect its offspring. Though this kind of genetic editing can help end devastating genetic diseases, it also leads to concerns about designer babies genetically engineered to be more intelligent or athletic. Part of the reason Dr. He’s designer babies were so shocking, for example, was because they were genetically engineered to be resistant to HIV– a genetic edit that many professionals viewed as unnecessary in a world where other techniques can prevent babies from being born HIV-positive.
Changing Technology Inside and Outside of the Body
However, some bioengineering technologies have been much less controversial than CRISPR. Bionic limbs, which use muscle signals to move more naturally than traditional prosthetics, have been the site of many recent technological innovations and promise more innovation in years to come. Some of the first prosthetics which allowed users to move their artificial limbs more naturally included myoelectric limbs, which use electronic sensors to detect small traces of electrical activity in what is left of an amputated limb and sends the information to microprocessors which move the prosthetic. Traditional myoelectric prosthetics, however, require external power, meaning that users may have to carry additional batteries or plug their prosthetic into a charging unit.
Osseointegration is the gateway into the future of myoelectric prosthetics. Under osseointegration, a bionic arm is surgically attached to a patient’s bones . Older arm prosthetics need to be attached to a user’s arm via a tight compression cup, making the osseointegration method a win for user comfort. The process has provided the first opportunity for what are known as brain-controlled prosthetics. Earlier this year, Swedish researchers unveiled a bionic arm that can become connected to the human brain through osseointegration. The technology makes use of electrodes implanted in the amputee’s nerves and muscles which pick up on brain signals and allow them to use their prosthetics more precisely. A series of brain signals help guide the prosthetic and create the illusion of touch. The electrodes help move the prosthetic finger after they receive the proper brain signal instructing them to do so, and once the prosthetic finger moves, the brain signal is directed to the sensors wrapping about the nerves, which allows the nerves to send signals back to the brain, creating a “touch” sensation.
During the Swedish study, three participants were given a brain-controlled prosthetic and lived with the devices for seven years while researchers tracked their experiences. Researchers are optimistic that the technology will eventually become widely used; however, the brain-controlled osseointegrated limbs are incredibly expensive, especially in states that don’t offer robust healthcare coverage. However, as the technology becomes more widely studied at different world universities, costs may eventually be lowered as other researchers produce brain-controlled prosthetics.
While brain-controlled prosthetics promise revolutionary changes for devices outside of the body, 3D printed organs promise radical change inside the body. 3D printing technology gives scientists the kind of precision in technology they need to realistically arrange cells into functioning organs. 3D printed organs might also prevent the immune system rejection that can result from a donor transplant. Since the technology would use the patient’s own cells to transplant a printed organ, there is less risk that the immune system would reject the organ because it didn’t recognize it as its own. In the past few years, researchers have been able to successfully print portions of organs but haven’t yet succeeded in printing a whole organ.
One of the biggest challenges in successfully printing 3D organs is providing them with blood supply. Researchers at Rice University in the U.S. began to overcome this challenge last year when they successfully vascularized a 3D-printed lung. The year before, another research team at the Wyss Institute 3D printed a heart ventricle with blood vessels. The research results from both studies promise that 3D printed organs may be available sooner than we think.
A Changing World of Wearable Technology
Wearables are another technology that is supposed to improve within the next several years. The term “wearable” refers to any electronic technology that can be comfortably worn inside or outside the body to track information in real time. Some popular wearables on the market currently include smart watches which allow users to receive messages and social media updates on their timepiece and fitness trackers which count calories while the user is exercising. Wearables are expected to become less visible as they gain popularity over the next several years. Further, power methods such as energy harvesting (which consists of using body heat or solar energy to power devices) are expected to become an alternative energy source for wearables, which currently don’t have a very long battery life.
Additionally, wearables are expected to move beyond the personal device sector and into a variety of industries. Some expect wearables to converge with home security technology, allowing a user’s heartbeat signature vis a vis a wearable to unlock a front door smartlock or having a wearable interface with a thermostat to control the room temperature based on body temperature. In the medical industry, there is experimentation with health trackers that will move beyond what popular devices like Fitbit are capable of to track the effects of drugs or measure other vitals. These devices would be embedded underneath a user’s skin to track a variety of health datapoints.
Some even think wearables will evolve into a kind of human exoskeleton. In humans, the term “exoskeleton” refers to a kind of wearable robot that can be worn to optimize human performance. In manufacturing and industrial occupations, exoskeletons might help protect workers from injury and boost worker performance. This technology has already been introduced in some occupations. In 2018, Hyundai revealed their model of an exoskeleton that’s designed to reduce neck and back pain for automobile manufacturers. Other companies are expected to follow their lead in the next few years.
The Companies Paving the Way
As biohacking technologies become more ubiquitous, several companies are using the advances to help others in ways never possible before. NeuroTech is an American company revolutionizing the way electroencephalograms (EEGs) are conducted. EEGs measure electric activity in the brain, used to diagnose conditions such as epilepsy. Some EEGs take less than an hour, but some requiring video footage, known as video telemetry, can take a few days to record and require a hospital stay. NeuroTech revolutionizes EEG testing by making it available in the home. Technologists monitor the EEGs remotely, and they can adjust the electrodes used to measure brain activity from afar if needed. This can save users thousands of dollars in hospital stays and make EEG testing more accessible.
Other companies seek to increase collaboration across different biotechnology industries. MedTech is an association connecting professionals across pharmaceutical companies, medical technology companies, and research universities. Together, MedTech associates work to share information relevant to future advances in biology and medicine—a crucial connection in a world that went from discovering CRISPR as a mode of editing genes to modifying human embryos in less than a decade.
Other companies in the biotech space are concerned about what the future of biotechnology might mean for humanity. Humanity+ is a non-profit that seeks to explain how science and technology will affect the future of the human race. The organization hosts international conferences, publishes a magazine, and invests in research and development. Humanity+ follows a set of philosophies broadly grouped as transhumanism, which explores the relationship between the future of humanity and rapidly accelerating technology. Of particular interest to Humanity+ is biotechnology—and with all of the advances in the sector from the last thirty years, who can blame them?
The future of humanity holds rumors of designer babies, wearable technology that can use our body temperature to lower the thermostat, and prosthetics that can allow amputees to regain sensations they thought they had lost forever. Clearly, more than one organization will have to take charge of exploring the questions that will arise as we progress towards the fantastic future of biotechnology.
