Scientists have made a "living" transistor

Energy and information all designed by man power and electronic devices is transmitted by electrons. It is the movement of electrons is called electric current. However, for living creatures, everything is not so: the electrical impulses in living organisms are transmitted by means of protons and ions. Protons and ions "include" and "turning off" various systems, open and close access to the cells of different drugs, considered to be transmitters of impulses antsy "Always sozdaniyovala problem with the interface – how to convert an electronic signal into an ion and vice versa? We found a biomaterial koy remarkably holds protons and allows you to interact with living systems "- says lead author Marco Rolandi survey (Marco Rolandi) of the University of Washington. He and his colleagues have done on the basis of a modified chitin (the main component of the exoskeleton of insects) solid-state field-effect transistor size of 5 microns, with which it was to steer the proton vozvozmozhno current koy served on the findings of the transistor, made of "transparent" for the protons of palladium hydride. The authors note, most emphasize, in fact derivatives of chitin non-toxic, biocompatible and easily decompose, therefore, these transistors have a chance to be precisely implanted in biological tissue. Current fed through the palladium contacts was fed to Malein-hitozasvezhee nanofibers, which lies on an insulating substrate of silicon dioxide, and united with another contact. Transistor vozvozmozhno was "open" and "closed" by applying an electric field to move as a simple field-effect transistor. Scientists have noticed, in fact vozvozveroyatnost steer the proton current using biocompatible nanodevices offer considerable promise for vozvozpolnomochiya interaction with living organisms and tissues. In particular, these adaptations have a chance to be taken into service to create a controlled pulses antsy prosthesis implanted in the body for the devices to monitor for direct control of cellular processes. According to the authors find, they created prisposobleniyo opens a fresh direction – bionanoprotoniku.