Molecular Machines in the Bloodstream
1996
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Vanishingly small machines like the ones envisioned here could someday serve as tiny mechanical doctors. These miniature devices would roam between the red cells of the bloodstream, seeking out and destroying harmful viruses (shown here as green geometric solids). The working parts of these machines would be built around gears no bigger than a protein molecule.
© Copyright 1996 by Scientific American. For reprint permission, please contact Scientific American, Inc., Permissions Department, 415 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017, or at [email protected].
Gary Stix, “Waiting for Breakthroughs,” Scientific American 274 (April 1996):94-99. Also, see response to the text of this article by Ralph C. Merkle.
