Microrockets Can Zip Around the Human Stomach, Powered by Hydrogen Bubbles
Microrockets via PhysOrg Tiny machines that can enter our bloodstreams and do work inside of our bodies are a staple of both science fiction and real-world biomedical science, as MEMS and other micromotor devices become increasingly small and effective. A team from the University of California, San Diego, is taking the idea even further by creating what it is calling "microrockets": tiny self-propelled motors that can zip around an acidic environment, like the human stomach, without the need for any external fuel. The microrockets are the first known example of a chemically-powered micro-machine that powers itself without carrying some kind of fuel, like hydrogen peroxide, onboard. Rather, the UCSD team's microrockets are powered by hydrogen bubbles produced by a reaction between an acidic solution--like that present in the stomach--and the zinc that the microrocket itself is made of. When the microrocket is immersed in that acidic environment, hydrogen bubbles quickly start...