A heart beating outside of a body in a vat of mystery liquid seems like an old pulp horror story. But not today! Today it’s life-saving science!

Or at least it will be in 10 to 15 years. That’s a rabbit heart, kept beating with a revolutionary electronic membrane that was custom-fitted to it via 3-D computer imaging topography taken of the heart while it was still within the rabbit.

Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University in St. Louis created this flexible and stretchy circuit-lined membrane, which in the future may be used as a minimalist, bespoke internal defibrillator for people with heart conditions.

Additionally, the device functions as an artificial pericardium, which is the natural membrane which covers the heart. According to materials researcher John Rorgers, “But this artificial pericardium is instrumented with high quality, man-made devices that can sense and interact with the heart in different ways that are relevant to clinical cardiology.”

It’s alive! IT’S ALIIIIIIIIVE!!

What Sparks Our Fire: Live-saving heart healthy technology.

Do you think this is a good improvement to existing internal defibrillation products?