Last week, at the meeting of the American Chemical Society, researcher Joesph Wang and his lab presented some new concepts for microrockets that can operate inside the body. These self-propelled devices are able to fuel themselves using the products of the natural surroundings. In the stomach, for example, a micromotor would make use of the acid environment to generate hydrogen bubbles for thrust. By using hollow tubules made from polyanaline and coated on the inside with zinc catalyst, these bio-rockets could cruise at speeds up to 100 body lengths per second. At a length of 10um, that translates to around 0.3 meters per hour. The real power of the device is brought to bear after it is coated with additional layers of nickel and titanium — at that point, it becomes responsive to external control by magnetic fields.
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