21st century technology

21st Century Technology

Hypodermic Needle

In 1844, Francis Rynd invented the hollow needle. Rynd used the needle to inject medicine subcutaneously. Then in 1853 Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood modified the hollow needle to make it sharper.  Wood used the new needle to inject morphine into his patients to treat nerve conditions. The next major advancement was made in 1899 by Letitia Mumford Geer. She designed the needle to be used with one hand (Omnisurge, 2015).

The next few advancements focused on the materials the needles were made from. In 1946, Chance Brothers created an all glass syringe.  This allowed the needles to be sterilized in pieces but it was still expensive.  Then in 1974, Phil Brooks patented the plastic disposable syringe bringing the costs of needles significantly lower (Omnisurge, 2015).

Today, the hypodermic needle is being revolutionized again. In 2011, Seiji Aoyagi created a hypodermic needle that is based on a mosquito’s bite (Coxworth, 2011). The mosquito’s mouth which is called a proboscis is a system of six needles. Two of the needles, called the maxillae, are jagged.  The mosquito uses these needles to saw through the person’s skin. The needles are very sharp and the person can barely feel the cut.  Any pain you feel from a mosquito bite is from the anticoagulant they inject in the blood and not the bite itself (Quiros, 2016).  The jagged surface of these needles causes the least amount of nerves to be affected at any one time since very little surface area on the skin is touched. 

Seiji Aoyagi and his team studied the mosquito and created a needle using a jagged outer surface instead of a smooth surface (Coxworth, 2011).  This has resulted a nearly pain-free needle. Other insect technology is also being used to enhance our current medical technology.  This field of science is called Biomimicry.  Researchers are now examining wood-boring wasps.  These wasps have a needle-like spike that they use to lay their eggs in wood.  They use a reciprocating motion instead of a rotary motion to drill into the wood. (AskNature Team, 2015).  Using this technology, the wasp can insert its eggs deep into the wood. 

The wasp’s spike has two interlocking valves which has backward-facing teeth (Coxworth, 2011).  One of the valves latches onto the wood while the other valve cuts into the wood. The two valves then switch catching the wood and cutting into the wood. This rapid, reciprocating motion allows the wasp to drill into the wood nearly an inch with very little force and very little pressure on the wood. (Coxworth, 2011).

Needles and scalpels based on this technology will be used in the future for brain surgery. The less force used to cut or inject into the brain the less the brain tissue is damaged. We can then expand this technology using a combination of Artificial Intelligence and insect technology (e.g. maggots ability to detect dead tissue) to create smart needles and scalpels. These new medical devices will be able to drill into the body navigating around crucial areas with very minimal tissue damage. This would allow surgeons to target previously inoperable locations and create hypodermic needles that target specific tissue.

Works Cited:

AskNature Team. “Ovipositor drills through wood.” AskNature. September 9, 2015. Accessed October 16, 2017. https://asknature.org/strategy/ovipositor-drills-through-wood

Coxworth, Ben. “Mosquito inspires near-painless hypodermic needle”. New Atlas.  April 4, 2011.  Accessed October 16, 2017. https://newatlas.com/mosquito-inspires-near-painless-hypodermic-needle/18320/

Omnisurge. “The History of the Syringe.” Omnisurge. May 5, 2015. Accessed October 16, 2017. http://omnisurge.co.za/the-history-of-the-syringe/

Quiros, Gabriella. “How Mosquitoes Use Six Needles to Suck Your Blood.” KQED Science. June 7, 2016. Accessed October 16, 2017. https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/06/07/how-mosquitoes-use-six-needles-to-suck-your-blood/