Google is making an attempt to save people from spotting cancer, heart attacks or strokes before they come and even before going to the doctors.
The company is working on technology that combines disease-detecting nanoparticles, which would enter a patient's bloodstream via a swallowed pill, with a wrist-worn sensor, according to Hngn.com.
The idea is to identify slight changes in the person's biochemistry that could act as an early warning system. The work is still at an early stage, according to the report.
Google's division known as Google X is trying to constantly monitor the blood for the unique traces of cancer, allowing diagnosis long before any physical symptoms appear. This part of the company is dedicated to investigating potentially revolutionary innovations.
The diagnostic project is being led by Dr Andrew Conrad, a molecular biologist who previously developed a cheap HIV test that has become widely used.
"What we are trying to do is change medicine from reactive and transactional to proactive and preventative," he told the BBC.
Doctor-patient relationships are pretty privileged and would not involve Google in any way"
"Nanoparticles... give you the ability to explore the body at a molecular and cellular level."
Google is designing a suite of nanoparticles which are intended to match markers for different conditions.
They could be tailored to stick to a cancerous cell or a fragment of cancerous DNA, according to the report.Or they could find evidence of fatty plaques about to break free from the lining of blood vessels. These can cause a heart attack or stroke if they stop the flow of blood.
High levels of potassium are linked to kidney disease. Google believes it will be possible to construct porous nanoparticles that alter colour as potassium passes through.
"Then [you can] recall those nanoparticles to a single location - because they are magnetic - and that location is the superficial vasculature of the wrist, [where] you can ask them what they saw," said Dr Conrad.
