In the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage, a group of scientists board a submarine and are shrunk down to a microscopic size in order to enter the bloodstream of a diplomat and save their life from a bloodclot. While this remains an idea of science fiction, we are forever moving closer to a time when fantastic ideas such as these come to fruition – though not in a way we expected.

This week on One Cell One Light Radio, Dr. Hildy will discuss the concept of using nanotechnology as bio-sensors, and the benefits and dangers of their use.

Imagine your body as a highly complex machine – the most complex ever created. Through natural processes, this machine runs itself. When your body temperature drops, you feel cold. If you lack iron, you may crave red meat or another source from which you are used to getting it. But these processes are automatic and uncontrollable. You can’t tell if you’re getting enough iron until you’re not.

Now imagine if you had a method of constantly monitoring your body’s processes – like the real-time fuel consumption in your vehicle. Using a fairly simple equation, your car knows the rate of fuel it’s burning and approximately when it will run out of gas. What if you knew that you that you were lacking iron before your body even did? This is just one possibility of the use of nano bio-sensors. Read the rest of this entry →