Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Medical Nanotubes Need Opening? Ask Raquel Welch
Medical nanotubes are just about ready for use in delivering minute quantities of medicine at exactly the right spot in the body, according to University of Florida scientists. There is just one problem. How do you remove the amino/aldehyde "cork" from the top of the tube? In science fiction, it would be easy - just ask Raquel Welch.
(Raquel Welch demonstrates her technical skills)
In the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, a hand-picked crew is placed inside a mini-submarine, reduced in size and then injected into the body of a dying science researcher. They must journey to a specific spot in the scientist's brain to administer a treatment. According to the novelization of the movie, by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, the people are roughly the size of a bacterium. At that scale, a person would be about 1000 nanometers tall.
University of Florida chemistry professor Charles Martin, along with five researchers, found a way to cap one end of a nanotube, creating the classic test tube shape, in 2004. Now, they have found a way to temporarily "cork" the other end, creating a miniaturized drug delivery system.
“After making the nano test tubes, we saw the potential for them to be used for drug delivery vehicles, but because they are open at one end it would be like trying to ship wine in a bottle without a cork,” said University of Florida chemistry professor Charles Martin. “You have to cork it, which is what we have accomplished.”
(From World’s tiniest test tubes get teensiest corks)
The researchers found that if they applied an amino chemical group to the mouth of the tubes, and an aldehyde chemical group to the corks, the two complementary groups would bind to each other, and seal the nanotube.
Medical nanotubes are approximately 80 nanometers (or about 80-billionths of a meter) in diameter; billions of them would fit on a postage stamp. Each tube can hold about five million drug molecules. And you don't need a miniature submarine to put the nanotubes right at the site of the problem. Unfortunately, it turns out that there is no easy way to unlock the amino chemical group from the aldehyde chemical group.
Now, if I'm doing my math correctly, that means that, to the miniaturized Raquel Welch, the nanotube would have (relatively speaking) about a four-inch diameter. So, opening the medical nanotube should be about as easy as opening a wide-mouthed jar of pickles, or opening a can of nuts. Yes, yes, I know; it's just a movie, and there are no nano-Welches.
Dr. Martin and the other researchers have come a long way, though; with the ingenuity displayed so far, I'm sure they will find a way to open the nanotubes. Even without Raquel.
If you are looking for more (nearly) science-fictional medical miracles, take a look at Remote control for humans, real-life bionic arms and lab mice that unexpectedly regenerate limbs and organs. Read more about corking nanotubes here.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/10/2006)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Medical ")
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...' - Michael Crichton, 1969.
NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI)
'The remains of the lace took on the rough shape of a brain...' - Iain Banks, 2010.
MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
It's A Giant Robot! You Reporters Have Been Warned!
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'
Birds Learn To Sing Pictures ala Frank Herbert's Distrans
'We will fight in the time of fighting.'
ElectionSim: China's 'Ender's Game' Battle Sim, Or Lem's 'Kingdom In A Box'?
'So, Ender, we will now begin your education.'
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!'
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.'
Orb Nomad Zero-Emission Electric Aircraft
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair or to perch on a flagpole in imitation of a giant bird, even in the windy city of Chicago.'
ICE Buys Shock Gloves Like Batman's
What else is the Caped Crusader using?
Factories In The Sky Will Surpass Those Of Earth
'The thirty-odd miles of The Factory’s circumference...'
Sleeper Drones Lie in Wait
'Wandering mines, you took them out on the edge of the desert, set them down and activated them.'
Warfare Goes Underground In Ukraine
'Once in the very first weeks of the war, before everyone had been evacuated from the surface...'
3D Printed Organs From Space
'For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital...'
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
