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Tiny Robots Powered by Living Muscle Cells
voma writes "Tiny robots powered by living muscle have been created by scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The devices were formed by "growing" rat cells on microscopic silicon chips, the researchers report in the journal Nature Materials.
Less than a millimetre long, the miniscule robots can move themselves without any external source of power. Muscles like these could be used in a host of microscopic devices - even to drive miniature electrical generators to power computer chips."
but still... pretty crazy what scientists can do. I won't say EVIL EVIL! or YAY PROGRESS! I mean, we are human. we will dabble. these things will be invented. just hope like so many other inventions, the good outweighs the bad.
:)
besides. 1mm of rat muscle? man. how puny
-John
"The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and hoping for different results"
I can't help to think this is somwhat relaxted to "Nanotech Research Works Toward Artificial Muscles", a story covered by Slashdot last week...
Since we have now redefined nanotech to include anything that deals in nanometer scale structures, rather than artificially constructed mechanisms with molecules as components, how far back in time can we claim "nanotech" to have been practiced? The first crystal growth? Perhaps to the first time a crystal was cleaved along certain atomic planes?
Perhaps we could do something similar with "space settlement" and just sort of forget that 1973 was the year that western civilization turned away from its destiny in space and began threatning the planet with globalist growth.
That should make everyone feel better too.
In Soviet russia, only old Koreans profit from pictures of Natalie Portman stored on Beowulf Clusters.
Won't the cells eventually die?!
The cells DO need a source of power: ATP. That's our input. The desired output is electrical energy. 1. ATP 2. -> mechanical energy 3. -> electrical energy I admit, the cool factor is there, but why can't we just use chemical reactions to extract the raw energy from ATP's chemical bonds?
We already have these.
They're called "Marines"...
Well, okay, not so tiny...that was a reference to brain capacity, I assume...
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
It would have been much cooler if they created a rat with a microchip in its head that shot lasers out of its eyes, or killer bees came out of its mouth. Or a robotic Richar Simmons, now that would have been cool!
Why doesn't anything interesting happen when I have mod points?
How do they propose to feed these cells? They need nutrients, oxygen and something to remove waste product..
They arent exactly 'self sufficient'....
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Why is the word "growing" in quotes in the posted article? Did the scientists not actually grow the muscles?
You're assuming that putting "quotes" around a word makes it an antonym. But since they don't actually "belong" in that "sentence," it turns out to be just a superfluous use of "punctuation."
And anyway, I'm pretty sure that the muscles grew themselves. Now when scientists start giving birth to nanobots, THAT will be something to see. Or not to see, I should say.
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