Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Magnet-Steered Nano-Fish Could Deliver Drugs and Sweep Body Toxins

Posted by timothy on from the plus-they-understand-all-languages dept.

dkatana writes: David Warner writes on InformationWeek how "nanoengineers" from UC San Diego have created microscopic fish powered by hydrogen peroxide that use magnets to steer themselves. "The "fish" are powerful enough to swim through your bloodstream, removing toxins or bringing medicine directly to crucial parts of your body, as cells in your blood stream do. Given enough time, the fish could be used to deliver drugs directly to cancer tumors or parts of your body that are too fragile for surgery."

2 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. Powered by hydrogen peroxide? by GrumpySteen · · Score: 5, Informative

    You know what else hydrogen peroxide reacts to? Blood!

    Blood contains he enzyme catalase which really likes to react with hydrogen peroxide to make a foamy mess that would not be the healthiest thing to have in your blood vessels.

  2. I was skeptical by kencurry · · Score: 5, Funny

    at first, nanobots delivering drugs in the bloodstream and all...

    But then, I read that they were "3D printed" nanobots, and I was all like "Whoahh, these guys are onto something!"

    --
    sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)