Quantum Computing and Healthcare Technology

Imagine conducting an MRI, on a single cell instead of the whole body - taking a picture of the molecule or just a group of molecules within the cell, identifying and examining the problem areas within DNA, and coming up with a more precise diagnosis and patient therapy. This is possible today through the precision of Quantum Computing and Nanotechnology built into an MRI equipment.

In a recent news release IBM declared that they are very close to make a breakthrough in the realms of Quantum computing. As a result of some experimental successes they are closer to build the first Quantum Computer, that can take advantage of the oddities of quantum physics and could solve certain problems in seconds, that would otherwise take present-day computers billions of years to solve.

Quantum computing is a computing system based on qubits as opposed to bits; where qubits (Quantum Bits) are basic units of information in a quantum computer. While a bit can represent just one of two possibilities such as 0 or 1, or yes or not, Qubits can represent many more options: 0 or 1, 1 and 0, the occurrence of multiple combinations of Qubits, and that too simultaneously. So, Qubit represents an array of possibilities and all can be calculated simultaneously taking probabilities in account.

The Qubit concept deals with very small particles (subatomic particles). It has been proven that a subatomic particle can have different states simultaneously because the particles are never static. This is evident because they move very fast, close to the speed of light. So, a particle state of the particle (Qubit) looks different to different observers and the particle has several states simultaneously. That is why one subatomic particle can have different states and probabilities, at the same time. We can use it to replace bits and get better performance: Much better performance! And then, when you combine Qubits, that combination holds an exponentially larger amount of information than bits. Subatomic logic is much more powerful than binary logic used in normal computing.

As a result, you can process complicated information faster. Its main applications are encryption, decryption, modeling, databases, voice recognition, structure recognition, simulation and artificial intelligence, plus many others yet non-existent applications.

Imagine its utilization and effect in the realm of Healthcare, specifically e-Health. Volumes of electronically available Patient data, structured, modeled, simulated, and processed in fractions of seconds - artificial intelligence for diagnosis and condition predictability with almost 100% accuracy, will multiply millions of fold, surpassing unthought-of limits.

Quantum Computing has also proved that two entangled particles share its existence. That is when one modifies its state, the other also modifies its own state simultaneously, no matter how far they are in the universe. That means we can "transport" information from one place to another without physical movement, just by modifying one entangled particle state.

In e-Health, this could mean automatic remote and reliable diagnosis, with electronic patient information, through immediate communication with entangled subatomic particles. And, with nano-scale precision applications, this is just the tip of the iceberg.