Invention: Remote-controlled pills

* 13:08 19 November 2007
* NewScientist.com news service
* Justin Mullins

Remote-controlled pill

http://technology.newscientist.com/a...led-pills.html

Pharmacists use various mechanisms to control the release of drugs from a pill. For example, the pill may have a coating that is designed to be dissolved in a particular part of the digestive tract or after a certain amount of time.

But this does not always work since the rate of passage through the body can vary, and some individuals have higher levels of digestive enzymes than others. So the electronics company Philips has come up with a remote-controlled pill with a cavity for carrying a drug which can be opened by a remote signal.

The passage of the pill can be followed by MRI or ultrasound and the drug dispensed with an electronic trigger at the appropriate location.

The drug can also be released according to other external factors. For example, if atmospheric pollen reaches a certain level or the patient's blood pressure hits a predetermined number.

Philips hopes the pills can be made cheaply enough to be disposable, so they need not be collected and recycled after use.

Read the full remote controlled pill patent application.
Wheels with wings

When aircraft touch down, the sudden acceleration experience by the landing gear wheels can cause excess wear and tear. Sometimes, the tyres even burst under the stress. As a result, many aircraft have mechanical systems that rotate the wheels before touchdown, so that they match the speed of the aircraft as it hits the ground.

But these systems are heavy and expensive to retro-fit, if an aircraft doesn't already have them, says Gecheng Zha, an aerospace engineer at the University of Miami, Florida, US.

Instead, Zha suggests fitting aircraft with tyres that have built-in aerofoils that exploit the surrounding airflow to make them rotate. He says such wheels would be relatively cheap and light, and that the aerofoils would generate more torque than mechanical systems that attach to the wheel hub.

Read the full wheels with wings patent application.

Virus-killing fabrics

As many as 500,000 people die each year from ordinary flu, so preventing its spread is a priority, particularly in hospitals where patients may have a greater susceptibility to the disease.

Stephen Michielsen, a textiles scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, US, and colleagues have come up with a way to kill flu viruses using dyes that release highly reactive oxygen atoms.

These dyes, such as porphyrins and fluoresceines, release oxygen radicals when bombarded with light. Radicals have the ability to deactivate viruses, and even have some anti-bacterial properties.

Michielsen's idea is to embed the dyes in fibres that can then be woven into textiles. The textiles could then be used to kill viruses in the filters of ventilation systems of hospitals, and in surgical masks. He proposes other applications too, such as waiting-room wallpaper, military uniforms, and aircraft cabin upholstery.