Google's going to build the perfect human, and it might save your life

Google fitness
Your move, Apple. Your. Move

Google may have history's greatest vehicle for exploring the web, but its latest project is much, much more ambitious: it wants to explore the human body. And we mean fully explore it.

Google is setting out to collect genetic and molecular information from 175 people (and thousands more after, we're told) in order to create a picture of a perfectly healthy human being, according to the The Wall Street Journal.

The project is called Baseline Study and is being headed up by Google X's Dr Andrew Conrad, with the objective to collect data that will help to detect things like heart disease and cancer much earlier on.

Witness the fitness

Needless to say, this could potentially play a big part in Google's wearable tech plans too. Currently that exists at the humble Google Fit platform, which comes packed with Android Wear. It's basic, but a clear indicator that bigger plans are in motion.

But it's not the only one with this idea. Apple is also on a massive health kick right now, announcing its Health Kit app at WWDC, which will not only keep an eye on users' health but allow for that information to be shared their doctor.

And how could we forget the ongoing rumours of Apple's fitness-focussed iWatch?

At the same time, Google is also working on a smart contact lens that won't just make you look like rad cyborg, but will monitor your glucose levels too.

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.


Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.