In future cables could transport useful items autonomously.
Blood clots (detectable by smartphone) are anything but useful. These ball-shaped tangles of protein strands trap red blood cells and cause strokes and heart attacks.
Now, a Californian-based research team has designed a milli-spinner, introduced into the bloodstream via catheter, to treat them.
The team developed a hollow pipe with elongated plates at the top. If the pipe rotates near a clot, the resulting suction reduces clot size by up to 95%, freeing red blood cells.
The smaller clot can then be sucked into the pipe; in tests 90% were safely removed. A future robotic version could move through the bloodstream autonomously doing its business.
Elsewhere, mini-robots can access the bronchial tubes.
