Nanomaterial stimulates and regrows severed nerves like sci-fi tech

“In a move that echoes a sci-fi series, researchers have developed a super-small material that was able to not only stimulate nerves in rodents, but reconnect them as well.  . . . . In creating the particles, researchers at Rice University started with two layers of a metallic glass alloy called Metglas and wedged a piezoelectric layer of lead zirconium titanate in between them. Piezoelectric materials generate electricity when they have mechanical forces applied to them. Metglas is a magnetostrictive material, which means it changes its shape when it has a magnetic field applied to it. In this case, the change in shape of the Metglas in the presence of magnetic pulses caused the piezoelectric material inside to generate an electrical signal. Materials that do this are known as magnetoelectric.”   MORE

Image Credit:  NewAtlas