Forget Necklaces and Rings. This Gold Goes Inside Your HeadEngineers are working on a way to use gold particles to possibly treat movement disorders and other ailments.
ByJason Fell•
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Don't call it a fashion statement.
Engineers are working on a way to combine tiny, tiny pieces of gold, called nanoparticles, with an elastic polymer to create a stretchable, conductive material. Yes, it's shiny and playfully stretchy, but the intention is to improve yourhealth.
The idea -- in language even non-geeks can comprehend -- is that most metal compounds lose their ability to conduct electricity when stretched out. But when gold particles are mixed with elastic polymers, it "self-organizes" into chains, making the material conducive when expanded or contracted, according to a report inWired.
The gold-polyurethane material could someday be used in the form of implantable electrodes in the brain for treating movement disorders or in the heart to help regulate cardiac activity.
"It looks like elastic gold," Nicholas Kotov, a chemical engineer at the University of Michigan, toldWired. "But we can stretch it just like a rubber band."
Gold has had other uses intechnologyfor years but the application seems pretty cool. A material that's stretchy and has the ability to transport electrons no matter its state can conceivably have a number of applications throughout medicine and beyond -- as long as the materials won't be rejected and can mold to the various surfaces and movements of the body.
Just don't try to pawn off your gold-infused electrodes or pacemakers for a quick buck. We don't think Les Gold fromHardcore Pawnwould be impressed.
