Charles Lieber, though, took a very different approach. To help regenerate bone, doctors often implant a “bioscaffold” into damaged areas to provide a support structure for new tissue to grow around. About five years ago, Lieber decided to try to build a microscopic bioscaffold made from electronics. He used photolithography to etch a four-layered probe one layer at a time, creating a nanoscale metal mesh with sensors capable of recording brain activity. After rolling that mesh into a tight cylinder, Lieber sucked it up into a syringe, then injected it into the hippocampus of a mouse. Within
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