Cheng Luo, an engineer from the University of Texas at Arlington, has created a self-propelled microboat based on the toy boats he played with as a child. When an object -- say, a toy boat -- floating on water has a drop of oil on it, the change in surface tension propels that object in the opposite direction. With this principle in mind, Luo has created a microboat that measures just millimeters, contains its own reservoir of isopropyl alcohol as a propellant, and cruises at around 30 cm per second. "But, why?" you ask. Luo explains that these tiny boats could be used to deliver drugs in blood vessels or even to diagnose and treat ailments. Sounds good to us -- wash one of these down with some
self-healing goo and you could be all set. But before we go, try saying "toy boat" three times really fast.
posted May 22nd 2008 8:30AM
Those things in my body? Ow. Oh and I tried saying 'toy boat' three times fast. I ended up sounding like a fool.
Toy butt. Thats what i ended up saying. Toy butts are no laughing matter though.
Hey BABY
I've got a boat at home.
Saying Toy Boat thrice is nothing..
Hell, I pronounce Fruhlinger as "Fruh! - link - Er..?" =P
Wait... fast moving but difficult to see boats that can be used to deliver drugs? I have some Columbian friends that might be very interested in this!
I ended up with taebo haha don't ask!
UMM...blood vessels are smaller than THAT aren't they?
Theses things look like good shovelers. Why not use them to shovel cholesterol out of arteries. They can dump it in the brain to make you smarter.
Yer, there is something about an object that is likened to toy boats that makes it some what... not cool to be inside of you.
And no i cant say toy boat three times fast either.
I'm still trying to say "Cheng Luo" three times fast.
WOW 30cm a seconds is pretty fast.
But seriously, out of all things they want to use them in blood vessels for drug delivery...pffft So stupid! That's why we have injections dumbasses. Besides, I wouldn't want my vessels blocked by that
Who WOULD want their vessels blocked by a...... vessel?!
For some reason I read that as "microbats" at first and thought it was much cooler.
Same.
Me too.
I was excited to see little tiny flying bats too...
Another one here.
At least I'm not alone in my disappointment.
ditto
me too. then i realized that self propelled microbats doesn't make a whole lot of sense.. since they are already pretty self propelled.
Deliver drugs in the cardiovascular system? Why would you need a boat to do that? All you need to do is get in the drugs in the blood and the blood circulating gets the drugs around for you.
Interesting. A vessel in a vessel.
Lawlz. That was actually clever.
Speedboating down the Love Canal. That's not a very streamlined-looking boat.
"Deliver drugs in the cardiovascular system? Why would you need a..."
For point specific treatment. Think cancers, tumors, etc. No need to flood a person's body with massive amounts of a drug thereby causing problems with health tissue/organs.
With something like this, they could put it in an artery, watch it via CT/MRI and activate the delivery right where it's needed.
Now, all that said and done, I have to question the propulsion method for use within a liquid environment. It sounds like this has only been tested for surface movement. His method doesn't work the same say "under water".
On top of that, IsoAlcohol is not good for internal use. It's very caustic and causes soft tissue cellular damage. Yea, it's used extensively on external wounds, but it's not meant to be introduced into the blood stream. Granted, we're talking about minute amounts, but who knows what problems that could cause later. Those problems might be assumed to be related to what the boat is treating even.
that'd be like a yacht for nanobots.
Try a Mega Huge Cruise Liner!.. Nano bots are a hell lot smaller.. At around 0.1-10 micrometers..
I understand making a miniature toy boat, but then claiming it'll cure diseases? give me a break.
That propulsion mechanism only works on the surface, not submerged, and at the size we're looking at right now, that's certainly "not for internal use"
Stromm has it dead on.
I'm thinking the guy spent a lot of time designing a tiny little toy boat, and now want to pretend he's somehow being noble. :\
Kay uh... I'm all for innovative drug treatment therapy, but I wouldn't ever invest money into this idea haha.
First realize how fast the blood is circulating around your body, then begin to remember that theres no MOTOR and that isopropyl alcohol isn't going to combat your blood circulation especially if the boat will probably be spinning in circles as it travels down the nile, and then at this point ask yourself "Hey, how the F*** are we gonna steer this thing now that its going in the wrong direction??
Also, unless your planning waterskiing with the S.S. Drug Treatment Boat in the Aorta, millimeters in size Isn't going to cut it when this thing tries to mosey across capillary beds which are ~1 cell size in diameter... where all the isopropyl alcohol will probably be left to dilute out into the same area of smooth muscle tissue causing problems..
Then how do you plan on finding this thing afterwards lol
But hey, if all these problems are somehow solved than sure why not! I'll even ask my doc to bring along my swim trunks :)