The promise here is generating mechanical action using first ultrasonic
energy and then even photonic energy.
Right now the potentialities may only be imagined but with the door now
open development will swiftly follow.
It may become possible to disturb biology without entering. How about disturbing plaques in the arteries
in a clinical setting? That may become
an option. Or even introducing a small
cutting device that slowly works to remove cancer cells in situ. Both are clumsy solutions but far less so
than present practice.
The point is that it has become possible to apply mechanical energy at
a distance that is forceful and effective.
We are not that far away then from truly effective tools.
How about gently separating flesh along cell wall boundaries? Easy to imagine and now to contemplate and in
time to investigate. The potential is
there.
Is The Doctor’s Sonic
Screwdriver for Real?
Email Author, April 20, 2012
The Doctor and His Trusty
Sonic Screwdriver. ©BBC
A team of research physicists
at the University of Dundee in Scotland have created an ultrasound array that
can effectively be used as a sonic screwdriver, right out of Doctor Who.
The Dundee researchers were able to lift and spin a free-floating 10cm
diameter rubber disk with an ultrasound beam.
Don’t believe me? Here’s a
video of it in action:
Ok, so maybe this isn’t as
portable as the good Doctor’s favorite tool of choice, but the implications
could be staggering. According to Dr. Mike MacDonald, of the Institute for
Medical Science and Technology (IMSAT) at Dundee, “This experiment not only
confirms a fundamental physics theory but also demonstrates a new level of
control over ultrasound beams which can also be applied to non-invasive
ultrasound surgery, targeted drug delivery and ultrasonic manipulation of
cells.”
The theory, which had been
proven separately, is used in topics from quantum communications to biophotonics,
but had not previously been proved in a single experiment. It
creates angular momentum in a vortex beam using a number of
intertwined helices similar in shape to DNA. The team showed how they
could generate vortex beams with many intertwined helices, using a 1000-element
ultrasound transducer array as an acoustic hologram. These beams are powerful
enough to levitate and spin the 90g disk.
But wait, there’s more!
According to Dr. MacDonald, “… [W]e are already starting to push the boundaries
of what ultrasound can do in terms of targeted drug delivery and targeted
cellular surgery. Like Dr. Who’s own device, our sonic screwdriver is
capable of much more than just spinning things around.”
And, according to the
same news release, though, the theory being applied to sound here, is
also valid for light. So, watch out: the Master’s laser screwdriver
may not be far behind.
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