This article was taken from the May 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Software, as Marc Andreessen astutely stated, is eating the world. And there are few sectors being ravaged more aggressively than healthcare -- with vast potential benefits for all of us hoping to optimise our well-being. That's why we decided that the next Wired conference should showcase the scientists, entrepreneurs and policymakers building digital tools to give us control of our health. We became so excited when programming Wired Health (29 April, London) that we had to share some of our findings in this issue.
As Daniel Kraft writes, opening our special features package, we're moving from a reactive era of "sick care" to one defined by proactive use of data -- in which the smart network warns us of problems long in advance of symptoms. Thanks to low-cost gene sequencing, easy-to-use digital tracking devices and data analytics, we are gaining more control over our physical destiny.
And it's visionary entrepreneurs and physicians who are leading the way -- people like Andrew Thompson of Proteus Digital Health, whose pills tell the network when they've been taken; like Elli Kaplan, whose Neurotrack software can detect Alzheimer's years before any symptoms appear; like biologist Jonathan O'Halloran, whose £500 device can diagnose cancer in minutes.
In these pages we showcase the devices that exemplify the fast pace of hardware development. And João Medeiros's story on cognitive enhancement reveals the latest thinking on maintaining intellectual health as age challenges the brain. If you are as excited as I am about the future of health innovation, join us at Wired Health in London to meet the people leading the revolution.
I'm pretty sure your doctor would approve.
This special edition marks Wired's fifth anniversary. What started out as a magazine and a website in May 2009 (remember a time before iPads?) is now an event series, a consulting business, an annual Wired World trends report, not forgetting apps for all sorts of screens. Thanks to everyone who continues to be part of our journey, from subscribers to advertisers and our own team. It's been a wonderfully fulfilling mission so far.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
