People like Elon Musk have been stating that commercial space travel is going to happen, the only question is “when” it will occur. Musk’s team at SpaceX has already figured out incredible things that even NASA had yet to accomplish, such as putting the first liquid-fueled rocket into space. They even made headlines in 2010 for being the first to launch a payload into orbit and return it to Earth completely intact. The United States and Russian governments cannot even say they did that.
[Image via Quartz]They also sent a rocket into space in 2015 that landed upright and recovered a previously sent rocket, the first to do this. A lot of what SpaceX has proven is that space travel can be done at an inexpensive level, as long as the tech can be used multiple times and not just once. Now that we know it can, it is only a matter of knowing how we can take people up to space without it being a major issue. This will take time, but in 10 to 20 years, it’ll likely be happening regularly.
Something has just been invented that happens to be unique, yet absolutely incredible. It is called the “smart needle,” and was developed by scientists from the University of Exeter. It is able to speed up cancer detection and diagnosis periods. The researchers who developed it believe it will specifically help with diagnosing lymphoma. It’ll also reduce anxiety patients might have as they wait on results. Quite frankly, if you don’t have to wait long at all, how could you become anxious, right?
[Image via Nursing Times]That said, the way lymphoma is tested for now is that one provides a sample of their cells. This will also involve a biopsy of the node, which will be carried out to fully diagnose someone. As you can assume, this is quite time-consuming. The Smart Needle utilizes something referred to as Raman Spectroscopy. It merely shines a low-power laser into the part of the body that is being inspected. It takes mere seconds to spot any potential concerns. This could heavily change how the future might look in how we test for other cancers too! That could take a few years, however.
In DC Comics, the story of Superman follows a man named Clark Kent who comes from the planet Krypton. His true name is Kal-El, and he was the first and only naturally born Kryptonian child of his generation. Reading this or hearing about it as children, you might have assumed it was pretty cool. Babies could fully grow in labs or pods on Krypton? No woman was having children naturally except for Superman’s mom? That had to be science fiction, right?
[Image via Princeton IVF]For now, this will not be the case for very long. Right now, premature babies born at the 6-month mark can develop fully outside the mother’s womb, under hospital care. We can already have sperm link up with an egg in a lab before putting it inside a woman. These steps are proving that we’re getting close to the capacity of full child development in a lab. For some, this is how the future might look for family development. Taking an egg and sperm cells from two parents and having the child form for 9 months in a lab. We’re so close that experts feel we’re about a decade or two away.
There are many who feel it is only a matter of time before the Earth will see its land overrun by the consistent build-up of water. Of course, this is not a crazy assumption. Water has been moving inward for centuries, even before we had a climate crisis. That said, we’ll need to be prepared for if and when this happens. This is why the Smart Floating Farm has been getting a lot of attention. Keep in mind, by 2050 we’ll be over 9 billion people worldwide.
[Image via SmartFloatingFarms.com]This means food production will need to increase by up to 70% the rate it is at now. Without land to plant on, we’ll have a global food hunger crisis. The Smart Floating Farm concept comes from a company that uses that exact name. They have proposed a 2.2 million square feet fish farm, hydroponic garden, and more. Complete with solar panels on the roof to power it all. It could then be anchored to sea beds in oceans, lakes, and rivers. With the right funding, this is how the future might look for food production!
One thing people have been discussing for a long time is the progression of Artificial Intelligence. Heck, we’ve even mentioned it a few times here! The expectation is that AI will one day be so good that it will be hard to distinguish a robot from a human being. We’ve already seen how impressive Sophia the Robot has been when it comes to random conversation. There are even robots that can write stories or operate as tremendous personal assistants.
[Image via The Sun]However, it’ll take time before we reach the Detroit: Become Human stage. The moment we do, the first two places these robots will end up is the military and the world of sex. Due to human trafficking being a major issue, especially for young women, the problem with this could be reduced. Sex Robots designed to look like what a person wants will reduce the need for humans to fit that fantasy. When you think of how the future might look, this may seem creepy. In reality, it could save lives.
Right now, the world is overheating causing a global climate crisis. In large part, this is due to all the excess carbon dioxide in the environment. People assume whenever that gas comes out of your car’s tailpipe, it goes into the air and is no longer a problem for anyone. Yet it does not leave the environment and head into space or anything. If it could do this, oxygen also would do so and we, therefore, could not breathe. Yet once we go green, even slightly before, there are ways to help.
[Image via Science.com]Technology is currently in development that, if successful, could find carbon dioxide in the environment and hopefully remove excess amounts of it. Tech for this might even be installed near or right in factories or areas where CO2 is much higher. It could then be gathered and taken into space for proper removal. While it will surely take time to accomplish this, this is how the future might look. Where we make the planet healthier by partially removing its biggest frienemy.
When you see the term “programmable clothing,” what do you think? Perhaps, you assume the type of clothing you can wear can change color, maybe even style. However, many developers have even obsessed with the clothing we saw in Back to the Future II. Remember when Marty goes into the future and is given a jacket and some shoes that were too big for him? They ended up recognizing his size and adjusted to him accordingly.
[Image via Universal Pictures]Many feel this kind of tech would be awesome for clothing, as it would ensure a proper fit. Unlike what some stuff might say when they claim it’s “one size fits all,” this literally could make such a statement. While you might see some clothing proclaiming it is programmable, they tend to only reference LED attachments. The size change tech is not something we can expect to see immediately, but it is part of how the future might look. We’d expect it sometime within the next 20 years or less.
DNA Gene Editing [Image via vchal/Shutterstock.com]
Gene Editing Will Bring Back Extinct Animals
Hypothetical Timeline:2030 to 2040
Gene Editing has managed to make some massive breakthroughs in just the last 5 to 10 years alone. Many expect that it’ll only improve. CRISPR happens to be the leading gene-editing tech, but this won’t be long-term. Only until someone develops something even better. Right now, however, we can actually do a lot of impressive editing for humans as well as animals. That is why many expect gene editing to lead to the return of some specific extinct animals.
[Image via AmeliAU/Shutterstock.com]Dinosaurs are often referenced, but no one wants to see a “Jurassic Park” issue. On top of that, even if we managed to get everything 100% correct about them, it is unlikely they’d be as large. During their era, we had a really high level of oxygen, allowing all animals to be quite large. That level won’t exist in their comeback, but this is how the future might look. An era of extinction reversals. The question is, would we want gene editing to develop mythological creatures like the unicorn too?
You might be surprised to learn that one day, we might not have as much need for doctors as we do today. While the field of nurses will likely not reduce by much, medical doctors overall won’t be as needed. Technology is currently underway that will allow a person’s body to be completely scanned. It will then show specific health issues, which will tell the person what’s potentially wrong with them. Yes, this is how the future might look for the world of medicine, people!
[Image via User12683362/FreePix.com]The only issue is that you do not want it to be like an MRI or X-Ray. We’d need it to be radiation-free. That makes things a bit harder, but not impossible. These scans can be done from your birth all the way into adulthood. It’ll keep up with your development, health issues, and much more. A system could likely tell you what is wrong with you, or doctors could be given enhanced images to tell them. You can then be given improved, accurate counsel on what to do next and medications to use.
Self-Driving Vehicles Will Completely Replace Cabs/UBER
Hypothetical Timeline:2035 to 2050
You’ve likely heard a lot about self-driving cars by now. They are a staple in science fiction yet they are important to how the future might look too. Places like Google have been developing them and even have one on campus to drive people around right now! The issue is that this would need to be something you could use anywhere. Funny enough, it’s actually quite easy to do, but it’ll take a long time. The way to do it is by putting microchips on the roads, obviously in a protected box of some sort.
[Image via Ubisoft]The self-driving car would then be able to know where it is going based on the chips. It is likely that we’ll see these in major cities first. Then, they will slowly go into smaller towns. Since Google also owns Google Maps, it will likely be the industry leader here. By the way, putting chips on the road is cheap. They cost about a penny each and can be replaced with ease. It’s also likely self-driving cars will put cabs as well as UBER and other ride-sharing companies out of business eventually.
While you should not expect the type of robotic enhancements that of those in Cyberpunk 2077, you can expect robotic enhancement in other forms. Moreover, “robotic” might not even be the best term. Some scientists are trying to utilize nanobots as a potential asset to the body that can replace hands, feet, and even entire arms and legs. So far, people have been able to use robotics in this territory but nowhere near as much as they could.
[Image via Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock.com]Nanobots can form around to fit the exact sizing a person happens to be. They might also be capable of even forming to look almost like the real thing. They’d also be enhanced enough to connect to the body and brain to work exactly like a lost limb, or even better. On top of this, if the look is still too obvious, your own body tissue could be used to cover them. If that’s not enough, nanobots alone are no risk to the body. Therefore, healthy enough to not cause any problems long-term.
Organs Will Be Grown In Labs, Rather Than Taken From Other Humans
Hypothetical Timeline: 2040 to 2060
Years ago, a group of scientists made the first-ever lab-formed bladder. It was then used to replace a problematic one in a patient, which turned out to be successful. Lab-made organs like this are a huge part of how the future might look. As everyone knows by now, every nation has a “Transplant List.” This will one day be a thing of the past, as people will need to remove perhaps a cancerous lung and can then replace it with a lab-made lung.
[Image via Singularity Hub]This lung will be formed using their exact tissue, blood type, etc. That ensures the body will not reject it, which sadly happens more than we’d like. This won’t occur with lab-made organs, however. The big organ that will make all others possible is the Kidney. Once scientists can form a full healthy kidney in a lab that lasts long-term, every other needed organ will be a breeze to form. Plus, the organ needed the most on transplant lists is always the kidney anyway. This would save millions of lives!
You read that right, your DNA will be capable of storing data. Researchers were able to electronically write data into the DNA of living bacteria in January 2021. This was a huge concept, as the idea they had was that it would be completely future-proof. You would no longer need a hard disc, flash drive, or even a memory card. Plus, your DNA happens to be a very useful storage sector. First, you can actually keep information safer and it would even be hard to hack since it’s not on a server.
[Image via Pikisuperstar/Freepik.com]If that was not enough to convince you, your DNA is 1,000 times denser than any known hard drive man has ever created. You could store the equivalent of 10 full-length digital movies within the volume of a grain of salt using your DNA. Imagine how much the rest of your DNA could store! Since your DNA is clearly central to human biology, readers and DNA writers will become cheaper as time goes on, and even more powerful along with it. We could see this as soon as a few years from now!
