Silk substrate supports implantable electronics
A report in the MIT's Technology Review claims researchers at US universities have created electronics that can almost completely dissolve inside the body.
To date, electronic implants have required packaging to protect them from the body. However, by mounting transistors on silk, the researchers believe electronics can be made to conform to biological tissue. The silk then degrades, leaving nanometre thick layers of silicon circuits in place.
The researchers, from University of Pennsylvania, Tufts University and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, are also developing silk silicon leds that might act as 'photonic tattoos', allowing information to be displayed, and as an interface to the body's nervous system.
