Researchers Transmit Wireless Signals Through Meat
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have successfully transmitted wireless signals through slabs of beef liver and pork loin. According to Sky News, this technology could revoultionize healthcare, allowing doctors to communication 1000 times faster with medical implants. Current implants use radio signals to communicate with the outside world, but they tend to struggle to travel through soft tissue.
“Communicating in the ocean and communicating in your body are very similar,” said Andrew Singer of the University of Illinois, who previously worked building ultrasonic systems for the navy before realizing a similar approach could be used for the human body. “You’re a big bag of salt water, with some bones and some other tissues,” he said.
To test his theory, Singer and his team placed a transmitter in a tank of water, then suspended slabs of meat in front of it. The signal passed through both types of meat at speed of up to 30 megabits a second – that’s fast enough to stream Netflix.
Next, the team plans to test this approach with real medical implants and living tissue.
