"Bionic" Lung Technology?

If you're like me and have been following the technical development of so-called "bionic" prosthetics for the last 40 years, you would probably think that the peripheral, motor-nerve prosthetic technology — such as arms and legs — would mature fastest, followed only distantly by the much more sophisticated internal organ technology — such as livers and kidneys and hearts and lungs, etc, etc.

Boy, would we be wrong in thinking that.

Check out THIS tech and tell me if it doesn't send a quiver through your gizzard...

Lung On A Chip: New Way to Test Medications

Lung On A Chip: New Way to Test Medications

In a move that could signal a shift in the way we test pharmaceuticals, researchers at Harvard University have developed a human lung on a chip. The tiny device contains actual human cells, mimicking the way the human lung works. Because it’s translucent, the chip constitutes a sort of window into the body.

“You’re seeing a breakdown of barriers,” said Dr. Donald Ingber, director of Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. ”We’re taking a technique used to make microchips for the computer industry, modifying it, mixing it with human cells. You’re seeing a man-machine interface, a bionic system that’s part-living, part-inorganic.”

Sure, it's in a simple form at the moment, able to assist in pharmaceutical research only — but imagine where this will be in five or ten years.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/856ed4214f8f.jpg[/atsimg]

— Doc Velocity




[edit on 8/10/2010 by Doc Velocity]

wow that blows my mind the concept of that. closer and closer to the singularity....its coming folks

*Smokes cigg feeling a little better about it..*

I would seriously love to know that I can trash my lungs and just get replacement lungs when cancer is present, if it's not already

Blows my mind every time I read something like this, wont be long before you can replace any part of your body with some sort of man made replacement....

Oh the scary part of all this, is I can see this becoming a normal everyday thing

Wow, a new way to test medications, so much for the human guinea pigs that look forward to getting paid for testing, though I just expect this to be another step before testing the medications on the human guinea pigs.

It will be interesting to see how transplants are affected by this technology as well, imagine not needing to wait for a donor as long as your body does not reject the artificial transplants.

[edit on 8/11/2010 by AlienCarnage]

Very Nice Find Doc V!

Another great advance toward being an android.

Does anybody know why was Doc Velocity banned?

Originally posted by RadioKnecht
Does anybody know why was Doc Velocity banned?

I was also wondering the same- Can you access his old postings?