After false starts, drugs that manipulate the code of life are finally changing lives.

A new generation of “smart” implantable devices could replace traditional medication to treat a range of chronic conditions, including cardiac disease.

The results from the treatment have been nothing less than miraculous. The beta-thalassemia patient, a European native who needed 16 blood transfusions a year but hasn’t needed even one since the treatment and the sickle-cell patient doesn’t suffer from the pain attacks associated with the condition anymore.

Scientists have developed a system of lasers that can probe inside the human body, much like an ultrasound, but from a distance.

The system can accurately image what’s going on inside a person’s body up to a depth of about six centimeters, according to an MIT press release. While that may not seem like much, it’s still an important first step in removing physical contact from ultrasound scans, as that can sometimes introduce variability in a doctor’s readings.

The system, described in research published in the journal Light: Science & Applications on Friday, uses two lasers: one to generate sound waves that bounce around inside the patient’s body, and the second to detect them as they reflect back.

The device has allowed Chou’s team to investigate how microgravity affects different diseases. The scientists report it has been tremendously effective so far in eliminating cancer cells.

“When placed in a microgravity environment, 80 to 90 per cent of the cells in the four different cancer types we tested – ovarian, breast, nose and lung – were disabled,” said Chou.

Normally, these are the hardest cancers to fight. Chou’s experiments, without using any drugs, managed to either kill such cells or make them “float off because they can no longer hold on.”