Stop and smell the… NANO BOTS?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
How do you picture medicine delivery robots? Like tiny space crafts? What about flowers!
Dong Wook Kim and team at Max Planck Institute designed particle-sized bloom-bots. But they’re not just pretty! Sound waves pull them to a specific spot, even in fast-moving fluids.
In mice, these nanoflowers delivered medicine with up to ninety-five percent efficiency. They also enhanced imaging resolution for real-time tracking. In lab tests, they helped break down pollutants in water, reducing contamination within four hours. From drug delivery to environmental cleanup, these nanoflowers are making a big impact — all guided by SOUND!
Now that’s a bloomin’ breakthrough!
Reference: Kim, D.W., Wrede, P., Estrada, H. et al. Hierarchical Nanostructures as Acoustically Manipulatable Multifunctional Agents in Dynamic Fluid Flow. Advanced Materials, (2024). https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202404514