SCIENCE
INSIDE STORY
INNOVATIONS
ARE HELPING
US ALL LIVE
LONGER
WILL YOU BE READY?
Spray-on skin, reprogrammed cells, custom-built bones and 3D-printed organs:
These health-care innovations are helping
us defy the traditional length of the human
lifespan.
Good news, as long as you have planned
ahead for a longer life.
Drug Development
79%
DROP IN MEASLES
DEATHS 2000-2014
$9B
INVESTED 19882012
$27B
PROJECTED
SAVINGS IN
HEALTH-CARE
Researchers estimate that the polio vaccine has
saved more than 15 million children from paralysis
or death over the last 30 years. They expect to end
the transmission of polio completely by the end of
2016, and to eliminate any remaining strands by the
end of the decade. In general, immunizations will
save an estimated 24-26 million lives in the 94 lowest-income countries over the next decade. Millions
of lives are also being saved and extended through
improved treatments of many of the most common
illnesses, from cancer to heart disease.
42 - CHIEF EXECUTIVE
3d Printing
1980
FIRST PATENT
APPLICATION
$299
$21B
PROJECTED VALUE
COST OF
CONSUMER MODEL OF INDUSTRY BY
2020
The technology behind additive manufacturing,
commonly called 3D-printing, has advanced to the
point where doctors are offering 3D-printed catheters, low-cost prosthetic limbs and more. Researchers are also 3D-printing models of various body
parts, such as arteries, in order to develop better
treatments.
The technology is changing quality of life, as well as
extending lives around the world.