The World in 2030

296 The World in 2030
biomedical company United Therapeutics, 516 using
miniaturized sensors, computers, and wireless communication.
Researchers at Edinburgh University
are developing spray-on nanocomputers for health
monitoring. Their goal: a device the size of a grain of
sand that combines a computer, a wireless communication
system, and sensors for heat, pressure, light,
magnetic fields, and electric currents. 517
And as we connect ourselves and the most intimate parts of
our physiology to the always-on, always-connected ‘superweb’,
telemedicine 518 will begin to play a much larger role
in our healthcare. ‘Telemedicine’ means ‘medical services
delivered from afar’ and although there will be many
instances in which an in-person physical examination will
remain vital, many routine interactions between patients
and care providers will be provided across the networks.
Telemedicine will become more and more effective as our
bodies become more ‘wired’ and more physical information
about our bodies’ performance is uploaded for expert analysis.
Telesurgery, particularly in partnership with robotics, is
already a reality with the first trans-Atlantic teleoperation
being carried out in 2001 as the BBC reported:
The first major trans-Atlantic telesurgical operation
has been carried out. Doctors in the United States removed
a gall bladder from a patient in eastern France
by remotely operating a surgical robot arm.
The procedure could make it possible for a surgeon
to perform an operation on a patient anywhere in
the world. 519