Microbots Deliver Medical Payload In Living Creature For the First Time 41
Zothecula writes: Researchers working at the University of California, San Diego have claimed a world first in proving that artificial, microscopic machines can travel inside a living creature and deliver their medicinal load without any detrimental effects. Using micro-motor powered robots propelled by gas bubbles made from a reaction with the contents of the stomach in which they were deposited, these miniature machines have been successfully deployed in the body of a live mouse.
Here we go (Score:4, Interesting)
This will be a revolution in medicine.
The gas used is hydrogen (Score:4, Funny)
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The extermination industry, however, sees great promise in the control of rodents.
Resistance is futile (Score:1)
That's how the Borg got started once again Star Trek predicts the future
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Must be you. I still have that check box.
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You posted as AC, I'm sure you've checked to see if you are logged in...right?
Really?! (Score:3, Insightful)
Now this is pretty amazing, but...
they are no more 'robots' than early Chinese fireworks were space probes. No guidance, no programming, just very clever manufacturing and good chemistry. Micro-motors are a big deal, but these aren't robots by any stretch.
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Unguided delivery device.
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It will be insanely difficult to make active micro/nanobots which can be programmed or controlled in real time. It's just like making a living cell, inventing new biology. It will be way e
Raquel Welch (Score:2)
How do they do that? (Score:1)
Microtubes... (Score:2)
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No onboard or remote intellegence or control of any kind really. Micro-torpedoes maybe.
Torpedoes have depth sensors and gyroscopes. Many also have sonar and magnetic sensors.
Hype (Score:4, Informative)
The motors made their way to the mice's stomachs, embedded in their stomach linings, and released their tiny payloads: nano-size flakes of gold.
No, the motors were swallowed by the mouse where they interacted with the acid in the stomach and began to move. Some of them eventually encountered the stomach lining where they embedded themselves. There was no payload release.
The research represented a major step toward putting microbots to work in human medicine, where they could one day ferry drugs efficiently into specific organs or even specific cells.
These are motors with a payload not microbots.
Here are a few issues;
They only work in an acid environment.
This method could not be uses in blood supply as it produces gas which could cause an embolism.
They have no way of discerning where they are. To deliver a drug to a specific point that is necessary.
This may be a step to delivering drugs to the stomach or intestines but not really applicable to the rest of the body.
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aka, a pill
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The only difference is that a pill is passive while this method actively embeds objects into the stomach wall.
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delivering drugs to the stomach
aka, a pill
Beats the alternative delivery method [xkcd.com] (see the image AltText)
How are these things "bots"? (Score:4, Informative)
So it looks like these things are basically zinc-lined tubes...no sensors, no guidance, no controls, no electronics, no communications or intelligence of any kind.
How is that a "bot"?
The gizmag report (second link in the story here) has a very beautiful picture of something which looks like a proper robot...but the other two links show simple cylinders.
I could imagine it being a motor for a bot...but it's nowhere *REMOTELY* near being an actual robot, not by any stretch of the imagination.
Look...this is an impressive achievement, it's very clever and I'm sure it has some very neat applications - but let's not over-sell it?
Argh!
The gut is still considered... (Score:3)
... outside world. From mouth to anus, you are like a squiggly wet cylinder of slimy secretions and supple absorptive tissues.
Safe plastic (Score:2)
From TFA
The chemicals they create when they dissolve—mostly a plastic, plus zinc, an essential mineral—are supposed to be safe for the body
What plastic are we talking about? Polyethylene and polypropylene are safe. Polycarbonate and polystyrene are definitively not safe. The generic term "plastic" does not tell us much about safety.
wow (Score:1)