[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/injectable-radio.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]A possible breakthrough in implantables. How do you shrink a medical device radio enough to make it an injectable, but with a strong enough signal to reach a mobile phone? A team from University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has developed a prototype injectable radio with a tiny (1 mm) antenna (left), with an overall volume of 10 cubic millimeters (1 mm x 1 mm x 10 mm). Its signal can go a distance of 50 centimeters, including through 3 centimeters of tissue. The power source is not continuous, but builds up power over time to send a burst; the power is drawn through a photovoltaic cell sensitive to the ambient infrared light passing through the body. If it can reach production, it can be revolutionary for medical devices like pacemakers in shrinking them, and open doors for more medical implantables. IEEE Spectrum.  Hat tip to Toni Bunting, TTA’s former Northern Ireland/TANN Ireland Editor.