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Platinum Nanomuscles Developed
An anonymous reader writes "The Institut für Nanotechnologie in Duisburg 'reports in the latest issue of the Journal Science that they have been able to use a tiny electric charge to flex a piece of 'nanoporous' platinum - an artificial sandwich of platinum atoms riddled with tiny holes.
Nanomuscles weigh just one gram but can lift 140 grams, and are preferred to electric motors as they are far cheaper to produce: 50 cents each compared to US$300. They also make less noise and operate more smoothly. They could one day replace most small electric motors in toys, cameras and other devices.'"
Perhaps this *is* or *is leading to* a kind of implant technology. But hopefully not. Even if a person's body can heal around the platinum and not reject it, the individual's bloodstream will still be absorbing a heavy metal. I won't put the cart before the horse, but we can look at least 2 places in history where the assimilation of heavy metals into the bloodstream on a routine basis resulted in a collapse of civilization due to insanity being prevalent amongst the populace. The most notable, in my limited opinion, would be the Roman empire. The nobility and other wealthy classes are largely blamed, but that is only because they were high-profile. The fact is that everybody's plates, cups, bowls, etc, were being crafted from heavy metals. Heavy metal gets absorbed by your blood and then disintegrates the fiber that connects the right and left side of your brain. It doesn't take long. Less than a year of regular absorption in small quantities. Now, not everybody is going to have a nano-implant, and our current civilization is already insane from what-I-do-not-know, so this could all be moot. But I do not see, in a long-term sense, any heavy metals being successfully used for nanotechnology as it applies to human physiology. My guess is that it will be plastic and ceramics (although metal, ceramic is typically not a heavy metal) being used for such purposes. In fact, if anybody can lead me to some info, if there actually even is any, about the use of ceramics in nanotechnology, I would be very interested. And appreciative.......