Medical Implant Heals Wounds & Then Dissolves

The augmentation of our bodies has reached a point where we are beginning to see some true innovation. Latest in a row of eye-opening innovations is a groundbreaking medical implant that is going to change the treatment of wounds forever. Medical implants are of course not a new field of discovery, but when it comes to this kind of extreme innovation, I kind of have to say that it’s a bit on par with what technology is capable of right now. So will our bodies be riddled by medical implants and chips before long?

I wouldn’t exactly say we’re facing a augmentation of mankind in any way, but I would say that with the magnitude of innovation that this medical implant provides, it’s easy to say we’ll all be a little more safe if we were ever to get a cut or a wound. What this implant does is use heat to make sure our wounds are safe from bacteria. As a matter of fact, the thermal therapy concept is the foundation of this remote-controlled medical implant that releases bacteria-killing heat to destroy harmful microbes. When the implant has done its job, it is automatically dissolved and absorbed by the body.

It sounds like science fiction, right? Well, we’re not quite there yet. This is in no way ready to become a consumers product just yet. The innovators over at the University of Illinois are currently testing their power-harvesting circuits on rodents, but their testing is showing great results and could mean that within a few years our bodies could be riddled with these microbe-fighting medical implants.

The entire chip is created out of a kind of super-thin silk which is responsive to radio frequencies. The components added on the chip are made out of silicon, magnesium and silk. Even the antenna is made by layering magnesium onto silk. The implant will dissolve just two hours after treating the wound. A breakthrough of this magnitude could mean faster and safer treatment of wounds that would otherwise get infected and in some cases even cause sever tissue damage.

University of Illinois Innovator’s Dissolving Medical Implant

Via: [psfk] Image Credits [John Rogers]