Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




STATION NEWS
On the frontiers of cyborg science
by Staff Writers
San Francisco CA (SPX) Aug 12, 2014


File image.

No longer just fantastical fodder for sci-fi buffs, cyborg technology is bringing us tangible progress toward real-life electronic skin, prosthetics and ultraflexible circuits. Now taking this human-machine concept to an unprecedented level, pioneering scientists are working on the seamless marriage between electronics and brain signaling with the potential to transform our understanding of how the brain works - and how to treat its most devastating diseases.

Their presentation is taking place at the 248th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society. The meeting features nearly 12,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics and is being held here through Thursday.

"By focusing on the nanoelectronic connections between cells, we can do things no one has done before," says Charles M. Lieber, Ph.D.

"We're really going into a new size regime for not only the device that records or stimulates cellular activity, but also for the whole circuit. We can make it really look and behave like smart, soft biological material, and integrate it with cells and cellular networks at the whole-tissue level. This could get around a lot of serious health problems in neurodegenerative diseases in the future."

These disorders, such as Parkinson's, that involve malfunctioning nerve cells can lead to difficulty with the most mundane and essential movements that most of us take for granted: walking, talking, eating and swallowing.

Scientists are working furiously to get to the bottom of neurological disorders. But they involve the body's most complex organ - the brain - which is largely inaccessible to detailed, real-time scrutiny. This inability to see what's happening in the body's command center hinders the development of effective treatments for diseases that stem from it.

By using nanoelectronics, it could become possible for scientists to peer for the first time inside cells, see what's going wrong in real time and ideally set them on a functional path again.

For the past several years, Lieber has been working to dramatically shrink cyborg science to a level that's thousands of times smaller and more flexible than other bioelectronic research efforts. His team has made ultrathin nanowires that can monitor and influence what goes on inside cells.

Using these wires, they have built ultraflexible, 3-D mesh scaffolding with hundreds of addressable electronic units, and they have grown living tissue on it. They have also developed the tiniest electronic probe ever that can record even the fastest signaling between cells.

Rapid-fire cell signaling controls all of the body's movements, including breathing and swallowing, which are affected in some neurodegenerative diseases. And it's at this level where the promise of Lieber's most recent work enters the picture.

In one of the lab's latest directions, Lieber's team is figuring out how to inject their tiny, ultraflexible electronics into the brain and allow them to become fully integrated with the existing biological web of neurons. They're currently in the early stages of the project and are working with rat models.

"It's hard to say where this work will take us," he says. "But in the end, I believe our unique approach will take us on a path to do something really revolutionary."

.


Related Links
American Chemical Society
Station at NASA
Station and More at Roscosmos
S.P. Korolev RSC Energia
Watch NASA TV via Space.TV
Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





STATION NEWS
ESA's cargo vessel ready for space delivery
Paris (ESA) Aug 12, 2014
ESA's latest Automated Transfer Vehicle is set to dock with the International Space Station on Tuesday, delivering more than six tonnes of crucial supplies and scientific experiments to the orbiting research base. ATV Georges Lemaitre will rendezvous with the Station at about 410 km altitude at 09:21 GMT (11:21 CEST) and complete a fully automated docking with the aft port of Russia's Zvezda mod ... read more


STATION NEWS
Electric Sparks May Alter Evolution of Lunar Soil

China to test recoverable moon orbiter

China to send orbiter to moon and back

August supermoon will be brightest this year

STATION NEWS
Mars Rover Team Chooses Not to Drill 'Bonanza King'

Indian orbiter to reach Mars in 33 days

Mars thigh bone is really just a rock spotted by Curiosity

Curiosity Mars Rover Prepares for Fourth Rock Drilling

STATION NEWS
US to Stop Using Soyuz Spacecraft, Invest in Domestic Private Space Industry

Long-term spaceflights challenged as harm to astronauts' health revealed

Voyager Map Details Neptune's Strange Moon Triton

NASA Selects 26 Space Biology Research Proposals

STATION NEWS
China Sends Remote-Sensing Satellite into Orbit

More Tasks for China's Moon Mission

China's Circumlunar Spacecraft Unmasked

China to launch HD observation satellite this year

STATION NEWS
NASA Awaits Boeing's Completion of Soyuz Replacement

Orbital cargo ship makes planned re-entry to Earth

The ISS just dumped 3,300 lbs of space trash to burn up in Earth's atmosphere

ATV completes final automated docking

STATION NEWS
Sea Launch Takes Proactive Steps to Address Manifest Gap

SpaceX rocket explodes during test flight

Optus 10 delivered to French Guiana for Ariane 5 Sept launch

Aerojet Rocketdyne Supports Fifth Successful Launch in Six Weeks

STATION NEWS
Rotation of Planets Influences Habitability

Planet-like object may have spent its youth as hot as a star

Young binary star system may form planets with weird and wild orbits

Hubble Finds Three Surprisingly Dry Exoplanets

STATION NEWS
Russia to develop scavenger to collect cosmic debris by 2025

Researchers prove stability of wonder material silicene

New EIAST Primary Sat Fab Facilities Ready Soon

Mitsubishi Electric Ready to Deliver Himawari-8 to Tanegashima




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.