A sci-fi future
Perhaps the wildest, and weirdest, potential applications of hydrogels come in the realm of human-machine interaction.
Numerous companies are already dabbling in neural prosthetic or brain computer interfaces that might someday, for instance, let someone who is paralyzed and can’t speak write on a laptop using their thoughts.
The spoon-in-the-Jell-O problem has been a major stumbling block.
But Dr. Tringides, who recently earned her PhD in biophysics from Harvard, is working on it.
She and her team have developed a seaweed-based hydrogel loaded with tiny flecks of nanomaterials that can not only meld nicely into squishy brain tissue but also conduct electricity.
Within a decade, she says, this could replace the clunky platinum metal discs used for electrocorticography – recording electrical activity in the brain to identify where seizures start or doing precise brain surgery.
In 30 to 50 years? Let your imagination run wild.
“I’m a skeptic. I like to take research step by step,” she said. “But things are definitely progressing in an interesting direction.”
A version of this article first appeared on WebMD.com.