The Death of the Welfare State
In 1870, Germany's Otto von Bismarck put in place the foundations for the modern "welfare state." Over the next 100...
Fast, Low-Cost Human Genomes Will Tra...
Nowhere has the impact of digitization been more profound than in the field of genomics. In roughly a dozen years,...
Solving the Global Water Crisis Moves...
As highlighted in previous issues, the world faces a potentially catastrophic water crisis in the coming decades. For...
Xeno-Transplantation: The Ultimate Or...
Every year, tens of thousands of people who could have been saved by organ transplants die before a donor is found....
Micro-Electromechanical Systems Become Mainst...
published on: Apr 6, 2011
The Trends editors have been tracking the evolution of MEMS technology for nearly two decades. In that time, these tiny systems have become...
The Coming Revolution in Medical Business Mod...
published on: Apr 6, 2011
The rate of growth in medical costs is unsustainable. The obvious solutions that are on the table, like letting bureaucrats ration care, are...
Personalized Medicine Moves Forward
published on: Feb 15, 2011
As mankind abandons the one-size-fits-all model of medicine and enters the era of personalized medicine, we'll see enormous benefits for both...
Reversing the Aging Process
published on: Jan 15, 2011
Exciting new research at Harvard University demonstrates that aging can be reversed in mice — and potentially in humans. Where does this...
Our Search for the Fountain of Youth Continue...
published on: Sep 15, 2010
Today, people in the developed world are living longer, healthier lives than ever before. This is mostly because we've dramatically reduced infant...
Getting to the Heart of Health Care
published on: Jul 15, 2010
Heart disease is still the number one killer of Americans. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans who suffer heart attacks survive, but with...
Getting Real About Synthetic Biology
published on: Jul 15, 2010
The implications of the world's first "synthetic life form" rank with those of the first controlled nuclear chain reaction in 1942, or the...
The Vaccine Revolution
published on: Jun 15, 2010
In less than 100 years, vaccines have utterly transformed the lives of billions of people. Pandemics like small pox and polio that once decimated...
Making the Most of a Longer Life
published on: May 15, 2010
People are living longer lives with greater potential for fulfillment. So what can we do to ensure that those lives are happy, rewarding and of...
Moving Personalized Medicine from the Lab to ...
published on: May 15, 2010
The genomic revolution promises to unleash a wave of new treatments custom tailored to the needs of each patient. However, significant economic...
The Exciting Truth About Stem Cell Technology
published on: Mar 15, 2010
Stem cells have often been hailed in recent years as the "next big medical miracle." However, we have seen little in the way of commercialized...
Longer, Healthier Lives Just Ahead
published on: Sep 15, 2009
As the Trends editors have explained, the convergence of technology and psychology is totally transforming demography. That is, we're starting to...
Science Faces Its Own Crisis of Trust
published on: Aug 15, 2009
In the 21st century, more than ever, our decisions are driven by scientific research. Whether it’s energy and climate policy, health care,...
The Miracle Cure: Health Care Innovation
published on: Jul 15, 2009
By far, the biggest economic challenge facing America and the world is the rising cost of health care, and the aging of the population will only...
Suspended Animation of Living Organisms
published on: Apr 15, 2009
As far back as the 1960s, people wanted to have themselves frozen at the moment of death so their bodies could someday be revived using future...
The Drug Synthesis Revolution
published on: Feb 15, 2009
Until recently, new drug molecules either had to be found in nature or synthesized in a lab using a few well-known procedures. This not only limited...