MicroJet alleviates the pain of the needle
A bunch of wusses at UC Berkeley spent some research money to develop an alternative to going under the needle for vaccinations: the MicroJet injector. It removes the syringe from the equation and replaces it with a tiny nozzle 70 microns in diameter that needn't make direct contact with the skin. Previous jet injectors developed by other wimps haven't been able to deliver the control over volume and speed necessary to deliver drugs to highly variable skin types, but the MicroJet innovates with a continuous range of control provided by a tunable electronic circuit. Inspiration was found in an already common delivery system: the inkjet printer. The researchers have big plans for the project to one day be used for microsurgery, delivering arthritis drugs to sensitive joints, and most importantly — painless tattooing (always on the wishlist in the academy). Bonus points for the psychedelic and potentially obscene video they've provided of this process.
[Via Near Near Future]
