Sci/Tech Scientists make droplets move on their own

[The Helper]

Droplets are simple spheres of fluid, not normally considered capable of doing anything on their own. But now researchers have made droplets of alcohol move through water. In the future, such moving droplets may deliver medicines, etc. To be able to move on your own – to be self-moving – is a feature normally seen in living organisms. But also non-living entities can be self-moving, report researchers from University of Southern Denmark and Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague, Czech Republic.

The researchers have made alcohol droplets move in a life-like way, and this could lead to interesting new technology, they say.

"The system itself is very simple but yet it displays sophisticated behavior", explains principal investigator Martin Hanczyc, who was at Center for Fundamental Living Technology (FLINT), University of Southern Denmark, when the research was done.

Martin Hanczyc is now at Centre for Integrative Biology, University of Trento in Italy. The study's first author is Jitka Cejkova, also formerly with University of Southern Denmark, now assistant professor at the Chemical Robotics Laboratory of Professor Frantisek Stepanek at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague.

Read more and watch a video of it here: http://phys.org/news/2014-09-scientists-droplets.html

 

[Varine]

That doesn't really make it self moving. Its still directed by specific targets and requires an external energy source. I don't see how this will help with delivering medicine at all.