Physics News

[ Watch the Video ] Engineers at the Stanford University School of Engineering have for the first time demonstrated a wirelessly powered medical device so small that it can be implanted in the human body and propel itself through the bloodstream, a feat scientists have been trying to accomplish for more than fifty years. Ada Poon, an assistant professor at Stanford, and lead researcher of the project, presented her research at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco. She demonstrated to members of the conference how the device can be implanted or injected into the human body where it can be powered wirelessly using electromagnetic radio waves instead of batteries or power cords. ?Such devices could revolutionize medical technology,? said Poon. ?Applications include everything from diagnostics to minimally invasive surgeries.? She said these medical devices could travel through the body delivering drugs to where they need to go, performing analyses, and even zapping blood clo