In a major breakthrough, researchers in New York have found a unique way to wirelessly transfer power deeply in your body to run tiny electronic medical gadgets like pacemakers or nerve stimulators.

 

The researchers have built an electronic device as tiny as a grain that can act as the pacemaker in comparison to the bulky batteries and the clumsy recharging system which often make brain implants difficult.

 

"We need to make these devices as small as possible so that we easily implant them deep in the body and create new ways to treat illness and alleviate pain," said Ada Poon, assistant professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University in the US.

 

The newly developed device can be charged wirelessly by holding a power source about the size of a credit card above the device and outside the body.

 

This wireless charging system was first tested on a pig and then used to power a tiny pacemaker in a rabbit. The technology has paved way for a new wireless device in the market which is unique and different. The device roughly uses the same power as a cell phone and safely penetrates deep inside the body.  

 

The work created the potential to develop "electroceutical" treatments as alternatives to drug therapies, said William Newsome, director of the Stanford Neurosciences Institute.