Man-Made Diamonds Key To Bionic Eye?
- Category: Shine Times
- Created on Tuesday, 07 February 2012 07:50
- Published Date
Physics professor can cook up diamonds in five days at lab for medical purposes.
It might take nature 3.3 billion years to produce a diamond but Steven Prawer, a physics professor in Australia, can produce one in five days — all for a good cause. The diamonds, which come out appearing black due to their tiny size that scatters light, could be an important piece in the pursuit to develop a bionic eye. While diamonds are commonplace in the medical community for their durability and low rejection rate in the human body, the professor said his lab has discovered a form of diamond that is bio-compatible and "very good as a stimulating electrode." That gives scientists the ability to put an electrical signal onto it that will cause neurons to fire and receive a response. The man-made diamonds will also be used to encapsulate the five-square-millimeter microchip which is then implanted into the retina.
Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald