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The Chemistry of Cyborgs—Interfacing Technical Devices with Organisms
Author(s) -
Giselbrecht Stefan,
Rapp Bastian E.,
Niemeyer Christof M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201307495
Subject(s) - interfacing , biomedicine , organism , nanotechnology , engineering ethics , relevance (law) , biocompatible material , biological organism , engineering , computer science , cognitive science , biological materials , biochemical engineering , biology , psychology , materials science , bioinformatics , biomedical engineering , paleontology , law , political science , computer hardware
The term “cyborg” refers to a cybernetic organism, which characterizes the chimera of a living organism and a machine. Owing to the widespread application of intracorporeal medical devices, cyborgs are no longer exclusively a subject of science fiction novels, but technically they already exist in our society. In this review, we briefly summarize the development of modern prosthetics and the evolution of brain–machine interfaces, and discuss the latest technical developments of implantable devices, in particular, biocompatible integrated electronics and microfluidics used for communication and control of living organisms. Recent examples of animal cyborgs and their relevance to fundamental and applied biomedical research and bioethics in this novel and exciting field at the crossroads of chemistry, biomedicine, and the engineering sciences are presented.