Nooks and crannies in our body tissues could be used to hold medical implants safely in place without stitches. A patent application filed by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (US 2006/0247664) says implants designed to monitor pressure in the eyes of people with glaucoma can be micromachined underneath to plug into microscopic folds in the iris. The inventors say their idea could apply to all types of implants.
It’s not quite alchemy, but these nanoparticles can recover tiny quantities of gold from used electronic components and even seawater. Hideki Koyanaka and colleagues at Kyoto University in Japan have developed nanoparticles that contain ramsdellite, a…
