Advances in medical technology are continually shifting the way we understand and treat the human body and mind. Gene-editing, artificial organs and nanotechnology aimed at extending our lifespans promise to enrich the human experience and raise untold ethical dilemmas.

Futurist Nikolas Badminton joined CTV’s Your Morning on Wednesday, to break down what may be around the corner in the scientific struggle to stave off death.

Disease-battling robots

The prospect of microscopic robots that inhabit the bloodstream and battle to improve our immune systems is being studied at universities around the world. In Canada, researchers at the University of Waterloo are working on creating “nano-vehicles” that mimic the way viruses interact with specific cells.

“This isn’t coming tomorrow. We’re probably 15, 20 years away from something that is truly effective,” Badminton said. “But that is not very far away.”

3D-printed organs

Need a new ear? How about a nose? The futuristic field of 3D bioprinting is working towards manufacturing human organs to replace those that fail.

CELLINK, a Sweden-based bio-tech company founded last year, is currently focused on growing cartilage and skin cells for drug testing and cosmetics. But the firm has said production of organs for human implantation could be a reality in 20 years’ time.

“There are companies right now doubling-down on research in this area,” Badminton said. “Livers and kidneys, we are starting with them. (And) more complex organs like lungs.”

He expects a great deal of regulation will be required to ensure these products last, and are of good quality once they are inside their new owners. Think about the sort of warranty you would want on your new lung, for example.

Cryogenic freezing

Cryogenic freezing is legal for dead people in several countries. Freezing someone who is still alive is typically considered murder. But those pesky legal hurdles have not deterred some from pursuing preservation plans that would, in theory, allow them to benefit from future scientific breakthroughs.

“Legal death is the point at which, under the current state of medical science, the doctor gives up,” explains the Michigan-based Cryonics Institute on its website. “But just as many people living today have been revived after what would have been considered irreversible death even 50 years ago, the doctors of the future will not give up so quickly.”

Badminton said the idea is “far-flung,” but he knows at least one person who disagrees.

“I’ve actually got a friend that wears a band around his wrist. When he dies, the doctors see that. They fly a team in and take him down to California and they cryogenically freeze him,” he said. “Maybe 200 years in the future they cure whatever problem he had.”

What is death?

Badminton believes one day it may be possible to cast aside the limitations of flesh and bone in favour of something more permanent, like computer data.

“When we think about downloading consciousness and personality, then we are talking about prolonging the essence of who someone is, rather than having the physical embodiment of that person,” he said. “The fun idea I like to think about is you can put whatever body you want. Imagine if your car had the personality of your grandma.”