Nanotech material stops bleeding
Researchers at MIT and the University of Hong Kong describe how peptides can self-assemble to control bleeding from surgical wounds. From Nature Nanotechnology:
The key to the success of this particular peptide is that it is water soluble and can be easily delivered by a syringe. Furthermore, self-assembly of the peptides is triggered by the ionic environment of the blood, and when broken down, the amino acid building blocks of the hydrogel can be used by the body to repair the injury.
This a great advance, thanks to nanotechnology. It can save lives on the battlefield or in accidents by stopping bleeding before the wounded are transported to the hospital. I think the other important thing here is that this is a clever application of biology rather than some sort of micromechanical approach. I think I’ve said this beforeâ€â€I think a lot of the important nanotech innovations are going to come from adapting biology, which already operates on the nanoscale, rather than trying to scale down macroscale machines. This is one example of that.
Tags: health, nanotechnology, Science
January 18th, 2007 at 11:58 am
[...] One the one hand, this contradicts what I said last night about micromechanical approaches not being viable, because, if they can get this robot to work, it obviously will be viable. On the other hand, it very much agrees with my assertions: “People have tried various techniques, including electromagnetic motors,” [team leader] James Friend said. “But at this scale, electromagnetic motors become impractical because the magnetic fields become so weak.” [...]