Inner Space may be a reality. Tiny submarines moving around inside your body.
Jan21Written by:
2009/01/21 09:46 AM 
A microscopic submarine that can swim through blood vessels like the one in the science fiction movie "Fantastic Voyage", or a similar more recent one, "Inner Space" is set to become a reality.
A microscopic submarine that can swim through blood vessels like the one in the science fiction movie "Fantastic Voyage", or a similar more recent one, "Inner Space" is set to become a reality.
I am a Sci-Fi fan. Love shows like Star Trek, Star Gate, Star Wars, The Fifth Element, The X-Files, etc. In a lot of these Sci-Fi movies, the technology is way concept of reality. It's all fiction, isn't it. Well not unlike the "Fantastic Voyage" or "Inner Space", the so called science fiction, is on our doorstep. More than 40 years later, some of the futuristic potential of Fantastic Voyage has taken a step closer to realisation, thanks to a remarkable achievement in miniaturisation unveiled on Tuesday.
Scientists in Australia have designed a tiny motor. This they say will be powerful enough to drive a miniature robot around the body. They say it could be used to treat diseases like strokes, just like the sub in the 1966 film starring Raquel Welch. The motor is just a quarter of a millimetre wide, or "two or three human hairs wide", making it one of the smallest in the world. Equipped with a camera, the remote-controlled device could send vital pictures back to surgeons. It could also remove body tissue for biopsy or deliver drugs to an area where they are needed most.
Professor James Friend, who is leading the research, said: "It is less fragile, simpler to control and approximately 70% smaller than the smallest design produced so far. Our hope is that it can be used to save people's lives because it will be able to reach parts of the body that surgeons cannot currently reach."
Prototypes of the motor have been produced. The team is now looking at how to improve the assembly method and a mechanical device that moves and controls the micro motor. But years of work probably still lie ahead before it is used on a human patient.
Read more about it at Sky News
What do you think? What do you think the next big thing in science will be? Will it be something already in use in some Sci-Fi movie?
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