Word: hand
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...computer digests the rectangle of plastic you hand her. "Yes, you've got a bad case of flu," she says reassuringly. "I'm having the pharmacy create a drug for you. It'll be ready before you're dressed, and you should be as good as new by tomorrow...
Back in her bathroom, Angela turns to splay her fingers under the hand sanitizer. Next she picks up her DentiGuard toothbrush, which checks for signs of gum disease and measures her bone density while it brushes her teeth. During the course of her morning routine, a total of 85 microscopic sensors, in everything from her hairbrush to the medicine cabinet, will keep tabs on her health. Most days she doesn't even notice their presence...
Untangling this metabolic mess will probably take decades. But given the immense profits waiting for whoever can invent a safe, effective weight-control substance, drug companies aren't waiting. With the clues they have in hand, pharmaceutical firms are now investigating about 60 compounds, most of them based on some of the 130 genes that have so far been implicated in weight control...
When patients discover that their "therapeutic touch" practitioner has not been manipulating their "human energy field"--a nonexistent entity--but merely making useless hand motions in the vicinity of their bodies, they will reject mysticism and move toward more rational therapy. And when herbal medicine devotees become aware that any useful ingredient in their unregulated leaves, stem and root mixtures can be isolated and made available as regulated drugs, labeled with full information about content and proper dosage, they will begin making fewer trips to the health-food store...
...year 2025 many of us will no longer tolerate the scourges of 20th century suburban life: the marathon commutes, the maddening traffic jams, the pollution spewing from tailpipes and chimneys. We'll demand neighborhoods where the air is pristine and places to work, shop and play are close at hand...