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New Scientist/via YouTube
Scientists have made tiny remote-controlled sperm robots, according to research published in the journal Advanced Materials.
Scientists in Germany say they have created remote-controlled sperm biobots using magnets.
These swimming “spermbots” are made by catching individual sperm cells in metal nanotubes, New Scientist reported.
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The teeny-tiny magnetic tubes, which are narrower at one end so the sperm doesn’t get away, are 50 microns long by 5 to 8 microns wide. The bull sperm’s tail-like flagellum pokes out of one end and is used to power small robots.
Oliver Schmidt and his team at the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences in Dresden, Germany, used magnets to control the biobots and guide them in the right direction.
New Scientist/via YouTube
The tiny sperm robots are controlled by magnets.
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Scientists hope robotic sperm, which have the benefit of being self-powered and accustomed to moving through “viscous liquids,” can be used to send drugs to targeted areas in the body or to lead individual sperm to fertilize an egg.
The research was published in the journal Advanced Materials.
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