CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (CBSDC) – It sounds like something that should be in one of the “Terminator” movies, but Harvard scientists have figured out how to integrate electronics with human tissue.
In a paper recently released in the journal Nature Materials, a research team reveals they have created “cyborg” tissue.
According to the Harvard Gazette, team leader Charles M. Lieber said for the first time the new technology works “at the same scale as the unit of biological system without interrupting it.”
To create the “cyborg” flesh, the Harvard-based scientists created a system for “nanoscale” scaffolds that allowed tissue to be interwoven with nano-wiring. After the nano-wire scaffolding was set up, the scientists then grew skin on the wires.
The wiring will allow the engineered flesh to detect oxygen, pH, and other elements in the air much like skin that’s naturally grown on a human body.
Although future engineers could potentially use the technology to help metallic killing machines blend into society, the immediate uses for this is for pharmaceuticals, with the cyborg skin being used to test drugs.