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Micro-printing process enables flexible, energy-efficient, biocompatible MEMS
The miniaturization of electronics continues to revolutionize the medical industry with tiny, swallowable devices and minuscule, implanted sensors. Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) have kept the ball rolling with the development of a new micro-printing process that allows the production of flexible and energy-efficient microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices that can be safely used in the human body.
Generally, MEMS come in two forms; sensors and actuators. The sensors convert movement or chemical signals into electrical signals, which can then be interpreted within the system, while the MEMS actuators work like any other actuator and convert a signal into mechanical movement. The membranes that are typically used to measure or produce the necessary movement are usually produced in a manufacturing process similar to that used in the semiconductor industry with silicon used as a base material for micro- and nano-sized components.
The new process developed by the TAU team replaces the silicon with a non-toxic organic polymer that results in rubbery, paper-thin membranes that are more biocompatible than silicon-based MEMS. They are also more flexible, which TAU claims could enable more sensitive MEMS sensors and more energy-efficient MEMS actuators that could be safely implanted in the human body, while also being more comfortable. The researchers say the new printing technology also provides the potential for quick, low-cost production of MEMS devices.
According to the team, the polymer base for the membranes and some funds were supplied by Arkema/Piezotech, a French chemical producer. "They just gave us the material and asked us to see what devices we could create with it," Leeya Engel, engineering doctoral candidate at TAU, said. "This field is like Legos for grownups."
At the moment, the team is only producing components with this process, but they hope to begin creating fully functioning, micro- and nano-scale sensors and actuators that could be utilized in the consumer electronics and medical industries. This includes devices for controlling bionic limbs of amputees in response to signals from their nervous system and prosthetic bladders that regulate urination for people paralyzed below the waist.
Looking further ahead, the TAU team hopes their new printing process could be used to make flexible MEMS almost entirely out of the polymer, which could be used in artificial muscles or, in the consumer space, in displays that are flexible enough to be rolled up and put in a pocket. The improved sensitivity and energy-efficiency of MEMS sensors and motors could also help extend the battery life of portable devices.
A paper detailing TAU's new printing process appears in the journal Microelectronic Engineering.
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/tau-micro-printing-biocompatible-mems/28710/
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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