Sensors the size of a grain of sand could one day explain what’s happening in your body from the inside out.
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, implanted wireless sensors measuring just one millimeter cubed in the muscles and nerves of lab rats, then used ultrasound waves to extract information from them about how well those parts of the body are functioning.
The benefits of the technology for humans, while still largely hypothetical, are promising. The sensors could allow physicians to monitor the health of organs, create new therapies for neurological disorders, and help the physically impaired to control prosthetics.
While chips have been implanted in humans and other animals before, these sensors mark a significant improvement because they are small, wireless, batteryless, and could last in the body for years without degrading, said Michel Maharbiz, the associate professor who devised and studied the sensors alongside neuroscientist Jose Carmena.
Read more from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/08/04/engineers-implanted-tiny-sensors-in-rats-nerve-endings-are-humans-next/