HOW LIFE WILL CHANGE IN 2017
From the rise of artificial intelligence to breakthroughs in cancer research and the first human head transplant
THINK of a password that is impossible for you to forget but equally impossible for anybody else to guess. Too far-fetched? Not at all. As it turns out, you were born with one: your body.
From the makeup of our fingerprints to the colour patterns of our eyes, our dental records, and even the structure of our veins, our biological identities are unique — and technology that can tell who we are by scanning a thumb or iris is no longer the preserve of science fiction.
Biometric technology is not new, but is becoming an increasingly common part of our lives.
Your cellphone can now be unlocked by reading your fingerprints, banks are using voice-recognition technology as a precaution and our passports contain identification chips that remove the hassle of queueing at airports.
But this is only the beginning. Imagine walking into a pub and putting your finger into a vein scanner. Instantly, the terminal knows what your favourite drink is, orders it and then takes payment from your credit card.
Such gadgetry may sound years away, but Fingo-Pay technology is already being tested by Sthaler, a British company.
Vein authentication — just one example — is more secure than any pin: the chances of two people having the same vein structure is 3.4 billion to one.
Reliable biometric technology has the potential to go a considerable way towards eradicating fraud. It may be easy to obtain someone’s password or driving licence but incredibly difficult to steal their iris or fingerprint (although not impossible).
All new technologies, though, have upsides and downsides. As we live more and more of our lives online, the risks of hackers infiltrating our lives grows. Just last year, billions of accounts were compromised and the need for greater security becomes more imperative. We need to be careful what we wish for.
Yes, the benefits of technology are dazzling, but the potential drawbacks are alarming.
A world in which CCTV cameras can recognise people using facialrecognition technology or by analysing their walking gait may be as disturbing as it is reassuring. It’s a brave new world.
Rise of the robots
Intelligent assistants will face strong competition in 2017, with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook all expected to have their own versions released. Google, whose first own-brand phone includes the new technology, is predicted to release the voice-activated Home speaker early in the new year.
As well as interacting with us through voice, AI (artificial intelligence) will pop up as a robot — a “chat bot” — that you can message in apps such as Facebook’s Messenger and Google’s Allo. It will also help you by scanning messages and apps to schedule meetings, prioritise to-do lists and offer you information you’ll need ahead of time, such as travel instructions.
These advancements will work in tandem with a growth in AI for businesses, with law firms, security companies and marketing agencies outfitting themselves with intelligent computers. This includes computer security software that can fight cyber attacks automatically, conduct legal research and analyse a patient’s symptoms, all without human input.
With these developments — and more — in the pipeline, the AI industry is set to grow by 300% in 2017. If 2016 will be remembered as a breakthrough year, what will 2017 mark? It could be when AI comes of age: the power behind everything from intelligent toasters that know when we would like breakfast to machines that can pinpoint disease with more accuracy than doctors.
Big breakthroughs in science, from the first human head transplant to new cancer research
There are hints that 2017 could prove an outstanding year for discovery and innovation. Babies with the DNA from three parents could be born for the first time in Britain as its Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority begins to license clinics. The technique, pioneered by Newcastle University, uses donor DNA from a second mother to cure babies of diseases such as muscular dystrophy.
Professor Sergio Canavero, an Italian neuroscientist, is also preparing to carry out the first human head transplant within a year. Valery Spiridonov, 31, a Russian who has the muscle-wasting Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, is to be the first patient.
Large-scale trials will begin in the US and China to genetically edit the DNA of cancer patients, which could herald an era of “cut and paste” humans wherein diseases are eradicated by rewriting genetic code.
Last year, Microsoft announced it was opening its first laboratory designed to find a cure for cancer by cracking the code of diseased cells so they can be reprogrammed. The first results could be ready in 2017. The researchers are working on a computer made from DNA, which will live inside cells, look for bodily faults, then essentially reboot the system.
Genetically modified wheat could also be grown in Britain. Scientists hope to begin trials which could boost grain yields by up to 40%.
In South America, millions of mosquitoes will be infected with bacteria and released into Brazil and Colombia to combat the Zika outbreak. The hope is that they will mate with local mosquitoes and spread the Wolbachia bug, lessening the risk of them transmitting disease.
And British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes aims to complete “The Big One” by May, to become the first mountaineer to climb the highest mountains on every continent and cross both polar ice caps.
He’s 72. There’s hope for us all.
No-drill fillings
This year could be the start of a new era in dental care, consigning “drill and fill” dentistry to the history books thanks to a revolutionary filling that can regenerate decaying teeth. The synthetic biomaterial, developed by University of Nottingham scientists, is inserted into teeth to repair dentin — the bone-like main component of teeth, which can be destroyed by bacteria.
The new material stimulates stem cells to grow into dentin, allowing the tooth to heal itself. The innovation could mean an end to repeat fillings and even tooth loss.
Nail in the coffin for HIV?
An effective HIV vaccine could emerge — and would be the final nail in the coffin of a disease that has killed more than 35 million globally. While antiretroviral drugs have succeeded in keeping millions alive, HIV/Aids remains one of the world’s most serious health challenges, with more than two million people infected each year. Yet the search for a vaccine has proved elusive.
Now a promising new trial in South Africa — the first human HIV vaccine study in a decade involving more than 5 000 recruits — will take place this year. Called HVTN 702, it aims to improve on a 2009 trial in Thailand of a vaccine that was more than 30% effective at preventing the infection.
The nose for a cure
Could 2017 herald the first new antibiotic to be developed in more than 30 years? German researchers have uncovered a promising new compound that appears capable of fighting superbugs. It originates in bacteria that live in the human nose.
With no new antibiotics developed since the 1980s, and a steady increase in the bacteria resistant to those in use, experts are warning of a return to an era where patients could die of minor illnesses and medical procedures. The new drug, lugdunin, has been found to kill the superbug
Staphylococcus aureus, which can cause drug-resistant infections. It has been tested only in mice, but it could be the breakthrough we need.
Early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s
The development of a new blood test for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease looks set to make crucial progress. The chief cause of dementia, Alzheimer’s is thought to develop 10 or even 20 years before symptoms occur — and scientists now think, if it could be diagnosed at this stage, early treatment could prevent this distressing condition. After 10 years of research at Oxford, scientists have developed a blood test that can give early warning of Alzheimer’s with 87% accuracy. And there are promising early results from a drug that prevents the brain making the amyloid proteins implicated in Alzheimer’s. —