Nanobionics – where the boundaries between electronics and biology become fuzzy

July 20, 2007

In case you are not old enough to remember the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man during the 1970s, the show was about an astronaut, Steve Austin, who got severely injured during a crash and became a guinea pig for bionics experiments by the CIA. In an operation that cost six million dollars, his right arm, both legs and the left eye are replaced by bionic (cybernetic) implants that vastly enhanced his strength, speed and vision. Never mind Hollywood, though, but bionics – a word formed from biology and electronics – has become a serious research field. In particular the development of artificial muscles is progressing rapidly. (Nanowerk)