Scientists have long understood that hydrogen, the lightest element, can slow aging and protect against disease – yet translating this understanding into effective treatments has proved challenging.
Futurist Ray Kurzweil believes nanotechnology will soon produce age-reversing nanobots, or tiny robots which travel through bloodstream and destroy pathogens while correcting DNA errors to reverse aging.
1. Reverse Aging
Raymon Kurzweil, an renowned futurist, believes we’re on the cusp of increasing human lifespans to around 1,000 years with biotechnology, artificial intelligence and nanobots – and believes we may only be 10 years away from immortality, per BGR.
Reversing the effects of aging lies at a cellular level. A team of researchers recently developed a molecule which can significantly slow or reverse cell damage by binding to damaged mitochondria and returning them back to normal, representing an important step toward creating an anti-ageing drug which may eventually be used for treating geriatric diseases.
Scientists are conducting trials with various cosmeceuticals agents that aim to counter visible signs of aging, including nanocarrier delivery systems which deliver active ingredients directly into skin tissues and other areas. This technology offers higher product penetration, targeted application and superior pharmacodynamic profiles when compared with traditional systems; furthermore it could allow cosmeceutical companies to develop age-reversing treatments for hair, nails and skin that could ultimately decrease incidences of geriatric diseases and medical conditions in older populations.
2. Heal Wounds
Injury to tissues initiates an immune response known as inflammation. Its purpose is to protect healthy tissue from further injury by recruiting blood vessels and molecular mediators; selective microscopic robots can be programmed to assist this response by helping the immune system identify damaged cells faster; they do this using principles adapted for nanoscale fluid dynamics such as rotating corkscrew motion similar to flagellated bacteria or asymmetric appendage beating similar to protozoa cells (Breitas 2003).
Medical nanorobots also play an integral part in detecting toxins and harmful substances within the body. Preloaded with specific chemicals, the robots are then sent into the body to locate and treat infections at their molecular source.
Nanorobots could potentially provide a much more effective approach to fighting cancer than chemotherapy treatments, which often kill both cancerous cells and healthy tissue simultaneously.
Other uses for nanorobots in medicine include preventing atherosclerosis by tracking cholesterol and other fatty deposits in arteries, replacing or rewriting DNA sequences in cells, treating genetic diseases by replacing unhealthy genes with ones manufactured artificially, repairing dental problems such as gum disease and tooth decay, restoring hair color and texture, as well as speeding healing of wounds or fractures.
Kurzweil envisions augmenting our bodies with billions more nanorobots to enhance organ maintenance and optimize bodily functions through hormone regulation, energy enhancement and focus improvement, and natural healing processes.
3. Kill Cancer
Kurzweil’s vision for life extension includes using nanorobots to eliminate cancer cells and prevent infection, an ability made possible through their operation at atomic, molecular and cellular levels – performing tasks once thought impossible by science fiction authors alone.
Scientists have developed DNA nanorobots capable of finding and eliminating cancerous cells without harming healthy ones. These robots are programmed to recognize 12 types of cancer cells and change shape accordingly in order to drill through cell membranes, induce necrosis, or release thrombin to block blood vessels that supply tumors with nutrients and oxygen – effectively stopping any escape of cancerous cells into bloodstream or spreading further across body parts.
Another effective strategy for eliminating cancerous cells is injecting drugs that will trigger them to self-destruct, but unfortunately some of these toxic medicines cause unpleasant side effects such as vomiting and weakness. Luckily, scientists have created nanorobots which can deliver these toxic treatments directly to the tumor cells and monitor its condition to make sure that treatment is successful.
Nanorobots can also help prevent atherosclerosis, the primary cause of heart attacks and strokes. By tracking atherosclerotic plaque, these robots can locate and destroy it before treating vascular inflammation by releasing drugs that inhibit intimal smooth muscle cell proliferation.
Nanorobots can easily be identified and digested by human immune system cells known as phagocytes, who digest bacteria. To mitigate this risk, researchers have created a passive diamond layer which prevents detection by human immune cells as well as protect these devices from being eaten up by phagocytes (white blood cells responsible for eating bacteria). To reduce this risk further, researchers developed a passive diamond coating which can prevent their detection as well as safeguard them from phagocytosis (phagocyte digestion).
4. Restore Memory
Scientists have created nanorobots which can be injected directly into the bloodstream to repair or replace biological functions. They can kill cancer cells, treat hormone deficiencies to slow aging and clean up after illness as well as help prevent atherosclerotic plaque buildup which leads to heart attacks and strokes.
These microscopic robots can help in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders by eliminating toxic substances that damage neurons and destroy memory storage, replacing missing neurons to improve retention rates, replacing missing ones to enhance retention, creating artificial neural networks to replace damaged ones and more.
Future technology may seem far-fetched today, but it could soon be reality within seven years. According to futurist and Google engineer Ray Kurzweil, nanotechnology will enable humans to live for thousands of years by eliminating ageing and death altogether with age-reversing nanobots.
Soon, scientists hope that using a pill to control nanobots that have been implanted within our bodies will become possible. They are currently developing such pills using combinations of peptides and proteins which bind with nanobots and activate them, then deliver micronutrients directly into our bodies for health and vitality.
Nanobots will do more than reverse aging; they also help combat diseases and accidents that cause death. By killing cancer and other lethal diseases before they spread, and by restoring memory, nanorobots offer hope of prolonging human lives. Researchers have even developed a prototype nanorobot designed as an oxygen carrier and managing carbonic acidity; this devise is called respirocyte; injection can be performed using poly(acrylonitrile-polypyrrole or polyvinyl alcohol gels.
