> *From BBC news
>>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4083557.stm
Here is a bit more background from the Uni of Bath site:
"BIOLOCH
Together with the MiTech Lab of the Scuola Superiore, Sant' Anna
(Pisa), the Centro "E. Piaggio", Faculty of Engineering, University of
Pisa (Italy), the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas
(Greece) and the Section for Minimally Invasive Surgery, University of
Tübingen (Germany), we are developing BIOmimetic structures for
LOComotion in the Human body. The objectives of the study (Funded
under the EU Framework 5) are to understand the locomotion and
sensory systems of lower animals such as parasites, worms and insects
which can burrow and navigate through the substrate (e.g. worms living
in mud) and to design and make micro-machines which can navigate
through the human body. The idea originates from the medical need to
develop more powerful tools for microendoscopy, one of the most
challenging frontiers of modern medicine. We have a prototype traction
unit based for its design on the ragworm (Nereis) and are currently
miniaturising it, describing it mathematically and applying the model
results to understanding the locomotion of the living worm. [Julian
Vincent, John Williams, Thomas Hesselberg]."
Of course Prof R. B. Clark and others did nereidid locomotion analyses
back in the 1970s, and there are papers earlier still.
--
Geoff Read <gread at actrix.gen.nz>
-- ANNELIDA
Discuss = annelida at net.bio.net = talk to all members
Server = biosci-server at net.bio.net = un/subscribes
Archives = http://www.bio.net/hypermail/annelida/
Resources = http://www.annelida.net/
--
