Needles have scared and scarred many since their youth, but few knew that fear was an actual condition. Trypanophobia, or fear of needles, affects over 31 million Americans today. Sufferers of Trypanophobia dread medical care and are likely to experience elevated heart rates and blood pressure in the time leading up to a procedure, with a dangerously sharp drop beforehand. With our reliance on needles for getting vital remedies into the human body, Trypanophobia has been a major problem. Fortunately, researchers at MIT have engineered a new method for getting patients the juice they need: jet injection.

The internet and the airplane have combined to tear down boundaries worldwide and fuel the globalization fire. Standing on two continents in one day was absolutely unfathomable even one hundred years ago. Businesses are now thriving with a global reach, while the Earth is currently at the most peaceful time in it’s history. Communication and collaboration brought upon by technology have been fundamental to this shift.

These two history-changing inventions that accelerated globalization on it’s current path are the new inspiration for taking humanity to the next level. A patented transportation concept that is as lightning quick and connected as the internet is gaining funding, and prototypes are set for the immediate future. Evacuated tube transport will rock your world.

Over the last few decades, we have become unbelievably spoiled with technology. Everything is becoming faster, slimmer, lighter and more efficient. The materials that we produce our gadgets with are becoming more impressive seemingly by the day.

By now you’ve probably heard of graphene, if not you can read more about it’s potential capabilities here. Graphene has been lauded as the perfect future material for our technological needs, but it does have one major flaw: it conducts electricity too well at this point to be used in electronics. Graphene in it’s purest form is unable to control the electricity flowing through it; it would thus be difficult to make future gadgets out of it. Fortunately, there have been a couple of recent major breakthroughs in the supermaterial realm including a genetic modification to graphene and a material cousin. Both hold a lot of promise for the future of sweet gadgets.

A collaboration of scientists from around the world have reached an unfathomable goal, one that could drastically change the way that we look at computers forever. North American, Australian, and South African scientists have built a crystal about 1 mm in diameter and consisting of only 300 atoms, that will be able to power a computer to do calculations beyond our wildest dreams.

Being able to see and enjoy all of the beautiful colors and various sights in life may be the greatest privilege that we take for granted everyday. Do we ever take the time to ponder what it would be like to live in darkness? Due to macular degeneration (loss of sight during old age) and other ailments, millions of people around the globe have to deal with this unfortunate truth. Millions of people are unable to see the faces of their loved ones, or a comfortingly familiar landmark or sunset.

Finding a cure for blindness has enthralled humanity for thousands of years. Fortunately, there have been several advancements in the field lately. Many involving a form of stem cell therapy, but others as foreign as using algae to revitalize our eyes. Still to this day, scientists have not discovered one definitive stop-gap measure to restore our vision. A major recent breakthrough could help lead us onto that path.

One in fifty people in the United States is suffering from some form of paralysis. According to the New York Times, they have gotten this way predominantly from a spinal cord injury or a stroke. Doctors have been hard at work trying to let these people live a normal life once again. A new wearable exoskeleton has given paraplegics with strength in their arms the ability to walk once again. While a huge step, it does nothing for those who have lost communication between their arms and their brain. A huge step towards reestablishing that connection took place this week. A field called neuroprosthetics could be the promising wave of the future.

Everyone remembers the horrific BP oil spill of 2010. At first, there was widespread panic about how we could possibly clean up all of the oil in the most vital fishing port in the United States. We were exposed to unbelievably sad photos of various creatures covered in gunk. We were then informed by the media that the clean-up efforts were going extremely well, and that we were nearing conditions similar to what they were prior to the oil spill. Since that time, the non-gulf public has gone about living their lives and eating their seafood, but what most don’t realize is that the problem is far from over.

Many remedies for diseases have been tested on animals, and this has been the cause of much uproar amongst animal rights activists. Even with evolving technology, this is still the most effective method to date. It’s no doubt sad to see animals have to deal with this, but this kind of experimentation leads to incredible breakthroughs.

Astounde covered a story last month of how scientists had perhaps unlocked the code to combatting seven different types of cancer, as well as lymphoma and leukemia. The treatment effectively stopped the growth of cancerous human tumors that had been implanted in mice. Official human trials are slated for the near future. Another breakthrough of similar significance occurred this week.

Heart complications have been plagued humanity since the dawn of time. 300,000 people with heart disease die each year. Options to fix various heart conditions have been severely limited. Even with advancements in heart transplant science, the supply of available organs cannot come close to meeting the demand. There are currently over 100,000 patients waitlisted to receive an annual supply of 2,200 hearts. That means that only 2.2% of people who need a heart will get one.

Normally the human heart pumps blood throughout our system using a set of cardiac muscles. These muscles subconsciously squeeze and push blood through each of our four chambers in a coordinated fashion. Each muscular squeeze allows for efficient blood circulation through the body, and can be heard as a beat.

Overflowing landfills are a huge problem in the U.S. and worldwide. Scientists may have discovered an innovative way to dispose of much of the plastic, but a lot of trash still remains.

Everything we buy usually comes packaged in some form of non-biodegradable padding or casing, including boxes, bags, wrappers, and foam. We throw it away without even thinking about it, but trash from packaging is adding up. By weight, 50% of all of the trash in the United States is from packaging. The average American throws away their own weight in packaging every 30-40 days! Some of the smarter people in the world have begun to take notice, and are doing some big things about it.