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(Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health)
Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have found a new method for inducing mechanical stimulation of nerve cells in the body. The finding might offer a step toward new kinds of therapeutic treatments, similar to electrically based neurostimulation that has been used to treat Parkinson's disease and other conditions. Unlike those systems, which require an external wire connection, the new system would be completely contact-free after an initial injection of nanoparticles, and could be reactivated at will through an externally applied magnetic field.
