Although wider culinary options are pleasing us, unhealthy diets are inviting chronic illnesses and various health risks. We are urged to eat healthier while the emergence of new technologies and ingredients are rapidly changing our food world. Would you change your diet if your doctor would prescribe the secret ingredient for a healthy life?

Microplastics, very small plastic fragments, less than 5 millimetres in length, can be found in several places. And there’s a lot of it. A 2015 study showed that there are between 93 and 236 metric tons of microplastics in the world’s oceans. They have also been found in freshwater ecosystems, in the soil, and even in the air. Even more worrying, they have been found inside a lot of animal species.

We always seem to be playing a cat-and-mouse game for all of our scientific advances. A bacteria or virus appears, and we develop antibiotics or antiviral drugs to deal with it. One worry is that our overprescribing of antibiotics will continue to lead to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with possibly devastating consequences.

Robotics is changing the future of healthcare. From restoring people's lost abilities to highly precise surgical operations, the potential is enormous. But robots in healthcare can be small too. So small that they can reach almost anywhere inside your body and deliver a highly targeted cure.

Imagine taking a small device out of your pocket, pointing it at a piece of food, and getting its exact composition and nutritional values. With these food scanners, you might. You could count its calories, know all its ingredients, and know whether it is spoiled or contaminated.

Czech scientists from a research group at the Brno University of Technology developed a mechanical and computer model, with the aid of 3D printing, that allows them to simulate a variety of biological conditions, like asthma and other chronic afflictions. It can help us understand the diseases better, devise optimal treatment courses, and even help doctors practice surgeries with precision.

In February 2017, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) released a report on the science, ethics and governance of genetically engineering human beings. This was spurred by the rapid development of the gene-editing technology known as CRISPR/Cas9.

Why are governments investing so much in precision medicine? Why are genomics companies like Illumina or Agilent Technologies, who many of us have never heard of, worth billions more than Snap, Inc or Twitter?

3D-printed foods aren't a new thing. Or, rather, they are - but the hype around them is not. Ever since additive manufacturing started to become more popularized, in the early years of the 2010s, many started speculating what it would be able to do with food. After all the hype, we can say that it has, to a good extend, delivered on its promises.

Depression is a serious illness. More than "the blues," it is a mental condition that, if left untreated, can have serious consequences. It doesn't just affect one's activities in his or her daily life. It can result in severe mental and physical issues in the long term. And, for many people, it's a reoccurring disorder. And despite it being so common, we still struggle to fully understand it and treat it. Now virtual reality is helping us do both.