Posted on ripleys, Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Harbin Institute of Technology published a study on March 25 in Advanced Functional Materials, revealing the creation of a magnetic slime that could potentially be inserted into the human digestive system to fish out foreign objects.   The study gaining traction online on April Fool’s Day and the substance’s odd appearance quickly led to speculation about its authenticity. However, the blob’s co-creator Li Zhang, a mechanical and automation engineering expert, has confirmed that this malleable magnet is no prank.

SLIME TIME LIVE

According to the study, Zhang’s scientific concoction is not far off from the glue-and-baking-soda slime recipes children worldwide use to turn their family kitchens into a disaster zone.

Rather than basic household ingredients, however, these slime pros mixed resin polyvinyl alcohol with household detergent borax, adding neodymium magnet particles to control the resulting ooze’s movement.  The resulting product is a “visco-elastic” substance that behaves like a solid when touched quickly and like a liquid when prodded slowly. Despite a video in which the slime appears to move autonomously, it’s controlled entirely by external magnets, which, in practice, would be outside the patient’s body, guiding it through the GI system.

GET A ROBOT THAT CAN DO BOTH

Though elastic and fluid-based robots that can fit into a tight squeeze already exist separately, those that can do both are few and far between, making this little slime big on potential.

What the slime robot lacks in the ability to act alone, it makes up for with other talents, including self-healing, grasping smaller objects, and conducting electricity. The video shows the full power of the blob as it pulls wires together and navigates narrow passages before being chopped apart, only to pull itself back together.

 These versatile traits could lend the slime to other useful tasks, like “circuit switching and repair” and “transporting harmful things.” Read more on this story here.