Hydrogen powered medical equipment

Although the COVID-19 epidemic is still raging in the United States, American scientific and technological circles are sparing no effort to fight the epidemic. From the appearance of various COVID-19 detection reagents to the successful development of various COVID-19 vaccines, high technology is trying to save lives. This epic epidemic has actually changed the social form and public consumption habits, so it is also promoting the birth of new technologies. In the near future, virtual clinical trials may be approved for testing new vaccines and therapies.

The list was convened by Scientific American magazine and the World Economic Forum, and 75 nominations were selected. Award-winning nominations must have a clear line to stimulate social and economic progress, and they must be innovative, but they may have a significant impact in the next three to five years. The steering group kept narrowing the list through virtual meetings (which are also technologies strongly promoted by the epidemic), and finally got the list of 10 emerging technologies.

The pain in acupuncture is mainly due to the contact between the needle and nerve endings, while the micro-needle technology can avoid contact with nerve endings, so it will not cause pain. The length of microneedles is between 50 and 2000 microns, which is about the thickness of an A4 paper, and the width is between 1 and 100 microns, which is only the width of human hair. Most microneedles can't reach the dermis of human skin, where nerve endings, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels and connective tissues are dense.

Microneedle technology can be divided into injection and patch. In 2020, researchers have introduced a skin disease treatment scheme based on microneedle technology. A company called Vaxxas is developing a vaccine patch based on microneedle technology, which can trigger an enhanced immune response through a vaccine with a lower than normal dose.

At present, many scientific research institutions are developing this technology, which can convert carbon dioxide in waste gas into usable common materials through the action of visible light and catalysts, and these products will be used to synthesize various products, such as drugs, detergents, fertilizers and textiles.

At present, many scientific research institutions in the United States, the Netherlands and Germany are working hard to develop this very valuable green technology, including the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis jointly operated by California Institute of Technology and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

In some fields, high technology has replaced doctors. Where's the patient? For example, in the clinical trial of COVID-19 vaccine, virtual patients were used instead of real people. If this technology is successful, the development of new vaccines and treatments will greatly improve efficiency, and it will no longer take months or even years to do experiments.

Virtual patient technology is based on virtual organs, through non-invasive high-resolution imaging of real human organs, anatomical data are obtained and input into complex mathematical models to simulate organs. Using the algorithm in a powerful computer system, the simulated organ behaves like a real human organ.

The United States has made some progress in the research and development of computer-simulated clinical trials. For example, the FDA is using computers to evaluate the new X-ray camera system, and real people are no longer involved in this work. At the same time, the agency also issued guidelines for testing drugs and equipment, including virtual patients.

Spatial computing re-establishes the real world in the digital world by modeling the physical world, and senses various changes and movements of objects in the real world through the Internet of Things and various sensors, so that the digital world can build the ability to control the real world.

At present, big companies including Microsoft and Amazon are investing heavily in the research and development of space computing technology, which is regarded as the next billion-dollar industry, the so-called "window".

At present, all kinds of smart devices are detecting users' health data. For example, iWatch is equipped with a powerful heartbeat sensor, which can effectively record your exercise, sleep, abnormal heartbeat and other data. This is not an isolated case. Many smart home appliances can do this.

The epidemic situation in COVID-19 has also promoted the development of remote diagnosis technology. Many tests can be done by patients themselves at home through standardized intelligent medical equipment, and doctors can make remote diagnosis through the obtained data.

At present, the electric vehicle market is extremely hot, and people don't seem to notice that electric planes have made great progress. At present, professional companies including Airbus, Ampaire, MagniX and Evition are developing electric vehicles and seeking certification from the Federal Aviation Administration.

In 20 19, air travel accounted for 2.5% of global carbon emissions, and it is still growing rapidly. Electric aircraft can reduce fuel costs by up to 90%, maintenance costs by up to 50% and noise by nearly 70%. The overhaul of an electric plane can support nearly 20 thousand hours of flight, far better than a jet plane.

In the process of producing cement, a large amount of carbon dioxide will be released, accounting for 8% of the total carbon emissions. If put forward separately, it can rank third in the list of carbon emitting countries, only next to China and the United States.

At present, large American companies have developed substitutes, which can greatly reduce the carbon dioxide produced in the production process.

Argonne National Laboratory is using various quantum mechanical properties to improve the accuracy of sensors. These sensors can even penetrate obstacles, allowing self-driving cars to detect a wider range and improve the safety of autonomous driving. Yes, once this sensor is commercialized, self-driving cars will "see" the situation around the corner in advance.

The traditional method of hydrogen production is to expose fossil fuels to steam, which is called grey hydrogen; If carbon dioxide is captured and separated in the above process, it becomes "blue hydrogen". The highest cost is green hydrogen, which is produced by electrolysis of water. There is no by-product in this process.

In recent years, the electrolytic cell technology for producing green hydrogen has been obviously improved, and its cost has dropped by 50% in the past five years. Therefore, this technology is becoming more and more practical. When there is surplus electricity in the power grid, it can be used to produce green hydrogen, thus storing the wasted electricity in the form of green hydrogen.

According to Merrill Lynch's forecast, by 2050, green hydrogen will provide 24% energy supply for human beings and reduce carbon emissions by 30%, which is a good thing for killing two birds with one stone.

In fact, the COVID-19 epidemic has also promoted the progress of genome-wide synthesis technology. At the beginning of the epidemic, Chinese scientists uploaded the gene sequence of the virus to the gene database. Then, a research team in Switzerland got the blueprint of virus production and produced a virus sample, which is called genome-wide printing.

Before this, the editing of human genome was mostly mild, and the whole genome synthesis technology will greatly expand the breadth of cell engineering and make it more extensive. These studies are helpful to the development of new drugs.