Part of ongoing research at Tufts University, the program headed by Professor Fiorenzo Omenetto and his colleague Richard Averitt seeks to develop a transmitter that will receive terahertz frequencies from the proteins, enzymes and chemicals coursing through our body.
As for the rather glamorous choice of material, the scientists found silk and gold ideal for two reasons: liquefied silk is ‘biocompatible’ and won’t be rejected by a living host body while gold is an excellent conductor of frequencies.
The team behind the project wants to pioneer an innovative method of treating diabetes patients by using the sensor to measure glucose levels which are then recorded on a computer. This happens when the terahertz from our body’s chemicals are received by the threaded gold in the capsule and are then transmitted.
Though terahertz science is admittedly a new frontier, experiments on pigs done by Omenetto have produced the desired results. Further tests are pending and the boys at Tuft University want to know if it can specifically detect glucose frequencies in unique conditions.
