Schematic of a helix-shape nanorobot moving through a living cellMALAY PAL
For the first time, scientists have inserted a helix-shape nanorobot inside a living cell and successfully manipulated it with magnetic fields. Ambarish Ghosh, a biophysicist at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, and colleagues designed the robots to be controlled with small magnetic fields that do not disturb the cells. They reported their findings this week (April 10) in Advanced Materials. The robots revolve in concert with a rotating magnetic field, and their helix-shape “tails” drive them forward as they turn.