According to the BBC, Dr Liam Hall, the head of quantum biotechnology at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency, has reported that quantum technology could revolutionise the early detection of diseases. In his research, his team has been exploring micro sensors made from minute diamond slivers, each about 50 nanometers in size (roughly 1,000 times thinner than human hair), to assess patients' iron levels.

This is different from traditional methods which measure the protein Ferritin in the body but this does not measure the actual iron levels in the protein. The reason it cannot measure that is the tiny nature of the magnetic fields that provide information on the iron levels. His nano-scale quantum sensors can, however, detect these fields and measure them.

Dr Muhammed Usman, a team leader at Data 61, a business within CSIRO also reported that with Quantum technology, pandemics may take a shorter period before vaccines are created by understanding the molecular nature of the virus and using quantum computers to calculate how to make a molecule that can fight it.

So, rather than having to wait for nine or ten months like in the case of COVID-19, vaccines could be available in days. He explained that the phenomenon of entanglement and superposition is what makes quantum technology powerful as sub-atomic particles can interact with themselves and other particles at the same time which creates multiple states. Finally, he stated that Quantum artificial intelligence is a key part of his research at the CSIRO since machine learning and artificial intelligence are deeply computational and would need high computing power to process tons of information generated by the system. Quantum computing promises to solve this faster and cheaper at scale.

Prof Bronwyn Fox, CSIRO's chief scientist, says that Quantum technology represents one of Australia's most promising pathways for growth, offering the opportunity to create new markets and develop innovative applications. He believes strongly that quantum technology when developed and applied, can solve Australia’s most challenging problems by offering fast computational calculations to provide solutions.

Dr. Hall further reported that quantum technology could revolutionize everything sometime in the future based on the early progress that he has seen in his lab. As a Quantum Physicist himself, it would be a proud moment for him to see the applications of the technology in everyday activities considering the availability of diverse opportunities to develop scalable solutions that cut across multiple industries.

It is incredible how nano-magnetic fields which couldn’t be studied in the past due to the limitations of classical Physics can now be studied as Quantum technology advances. The possibilities that this technology brings are revolutionary and can impact every industry in the future. A clear case in point would be the early detection of cancerous cells as a result of the ability to measure the internal workings of hormones or proteins or the understanding of sub-molecular structures in viruses or the study of the sub-particles in neurons. This is just medicine alone. Now, imagine what could be if quantum technology was applied to everything just the way the folks at CSIRO have dreamt of it.