Scientists Invent Electronics That Dissolve In the Body 69
An anonymous reader writes in with a story about some new electronics that are designed to melt in your body not in your hand. "Scientists have created ultra-thin electronic devices that can 'melt away' in the body once their job is done. A new study published in the journal Science, details how scientists have created a tiny, fully functional electronic device capable of vanishing within their environment, like in the body or in water, once they are no longer needed or useful. There are already implants that dispense drugs or provide electrical stimulation but they do not dissolve. The latest creation is an early step in a technology that may benefit not only medicine, like enabling the development of medical implants that don't need to be surgically removed or the risk of long-term side effects, but also electronic waste disposal."
Medical applications? Nope. (Score:5, Insightful)
I predict the first practical use of these devices will be for surveillance.
Re:Medical applications? Nope. (Score:5, Insightful)
A device that delivers drugs and then melts away to leave no evidence?
The second practical use will certainly be assassination.
Re:Medical applications? Nope. (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh Slashdot, news for luddites, as always. Just once I'd like to see a story about a new technology in which there isn't an immediate upmodded post about how it's so scary and awful.
Tell me, how does the dissolvability of this new tech make it ideal for surveillance? Are you one of those tin foil nutcases who thinks the US is implanting tracking devices in people? If so, why do they want those devices (which are already so well hidden that they've never been found) to dissolve? If not, how exactly are they going to surreptitiously get these scary tracking devices into people?