Living, breathing human lung-on-a-chip. Photo courtesy of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering/Harvard University The lung on a chip, shown here, was crafted by combining microfabrication techniques from the computer industry with modern tissue engineering techniques, human cells and a plain old vacuum pump. Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have created a device that mimics a living, breathing human lung on a microchip. The device, about the size of a rubber eraser, acts much like a lung in a human body and is made using human lung and blood vessel cells.
Because the lung device is translucent, it provides a window into the inner-workings of the human lung without having to invade a living body. Click here to watch an interview with Donald Ingber. The work is being published in tomorrow’s edition of Science. Room to breathe The team followed this experiment with a “real-world application of the device,” says Huh. Organs-on-chips. Pranav Mistry: The thrilling potential of SixthSense technology. Amazing Electron Microscope Shots... - melodymaker's posterous. Nanotube Power Technology Breakthrough at MIT. May 12, 2010 12:00 PM Engineers at MIT have devised what they call a new way of producing electricity. By coating a microscopic carbon nanotube with a layer of fuel and igniting one end with a spark or laser, they're able to send a wave of heat shooting through the nanotube's interior.
This thermal wave pushes electrons in its path, generating a significant electric current. Prototypes already have energy density 100 times greater than lithium-ion batteries, and they can be stored indefinitely without leaking charge. The researchers are now investigating optimal fuels and, to make the system reusable, will have to invent a way to automatically apply a fresh layer of fuel after the first burns away. How It Works: 1. 2. 3. Possible Uses For Nanotube Power: Environmental Sensors Nanotubes could power environmental sensors that, scattered like dust in the air, closely monitor wide areas.