Wearable technology and the future of a billion-dollar industry

A feature article published this afternoon in the new, online nonprofit journalism news outlet Bioengineering Today explores the global, billion-dollar industry of wearable fitness and medical technologies, which stands at the crossroads of computing, consumer electronics, exercise culture and human health. 

The article begins: 

"As you read this, you won't have a population of customized precision medicine nanobots holding vigil in your body curing diseases just as they arise. Nor are you wearing a complete bodysuit that protects you from the near-vacuum, zero gravity and smidge-above-absolute zero threat of space, sending real-time data about your condition to your home planet via the galaxy-wide web. 

"Someday you might. For now you may be wearing a small piece of the future on your wrist. 

"You do already if you have a fitness tracker. Or, if you suffer from any of several chronic diseases, you may soon have a wearable, noninvasive medical device that monitors and/or treats your condition and sends data to yourself, your doctor or your insurance company. 

"The gap between the science fiction version and the real-life version may be rapidly closing. Wearable fitness and medical technologies will be a $4.5 billion market globally by 2020, according to Global Industry Analysts. Everything from heart rate to insulin status to recreational drug use can now be measured and monitored digitally. The convergence of miniature electronics, software and some fancy technical work at the interface of chemistry and physics is poised to explode with huge upsides and some possibly disturbing downsides …" 

Provided by American Institute of Physics