New Scientist Tech reports on the latest development in nanotechnology – Nanowires. Designed to monitor people’s blood pressure, these miniscule wires are made of zinc oxide and because they are "biocompatible" they can actually be placed inside a person’s arm and produce a current when bent.
Once in place, tiny changes in pressure from pulsing blood vessels would bend them, creating a current and allowing blood pressure to be continuously measured. The sensor could then wirelessly transmit the pressure reading to an external receiver device, perhaps worn on the wrist, which would then display the data.
The researchers add that such a pressure sensor could even be self-powered in the future by combining it with a "nanogenerator", which the Georgia Tech group made last year. The nanogenerator uses the piezoelectric effect to generate power as the patient moves and this would power the pressure sensor without the need for batteries.
[via Engadget]
New Scientist Tech: Nanowires in the blood could feel the pressure
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