This Bacterium-Sized Bunny Could Be The Future Of Bionic Brains
Microscopic bunny created with a new type of conductive resin Yuya Daicho, Terumasa Murakami, Tsuneo Hagiwara, and Shoji Maruo Scientists in Japan have created a new material that can be shaped into complex, conductive 3-D structures. Get ready for your custom brain electrodes. The rabbit sculpture above is the size of a typical bacterium and is made of a new type of resin that has exciting implications for bionic implants. Developed by researchers in Japan, the resin allows scientists to mold highly conductive, complex 3-D structures at the microscopic level. The scientists began with a problem: In order to make a tiny resin sculpture into an electrode (which, for example, could be implanted into the brain to treat epilepsy), scientists bake it at high temperatures, which turns its surface into carbon. The "carbonizing" process makes the resin more conductive, but it also wrecks the sculpture's shape, warping it into more of a...