TED Conversations

griffin tucker

TEDCRED 10+

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

remove the need for lungs

every 6 months or so, bite into a specialised burger (vegetarian if you like) that contains oxygenated pellets that dissolve over time into the blood-stream, there-by removing the need for lungs.

the pellets could be networked and have a few 'server' pellets that detect when the blood-stream is running low on oxygen, and dissolve themselves, releasing oxygen accordingly.

Topics: nanotechnology
0
Share:
progress indicator
  • thumb

    Micheal Savage

    • 0
    Sep 10 2011: The Idea is neat. I gotta say. I do however see a few problems with the idea. Our body needs varied amounts of O2 in a moments notice. For example sometimes we are simply relaxing and need a relative amount of 02 streaming through our blood every second. Running low for more than a few minutes could be damaging or fatal. And when we exert ourselves we need a vast amount of o2 to work our muscles. And the last problem I have with this is the method of delivery. It would only be able to last from the point it enters our stomach to the point its processed through the intestinal track.
    However going the nano-tech way raises other questions as well. Cool idea but I don't think it would work.
    • thumb

      griffin tucker 10+

      • 0
      Sep 10 2011: i guess using the nano-tech way that the server bots that detect when oxygen is low would need a high response time in order to not let damage/death occur.

      as for the burger method of ingesting the nano-tech, i would expect that even if the nanobots could not pass thru into the bloodstream, that small incisions would be able to be made (and stitched up again?) to let the nanobots do their oxygenisation.
  • thumb

    Timothy Campbell

    • 0
    Sep 10 2011: Have you calculated how much 6 months worth of oxygen would weigh? I don't know the answer, but I suppose you could get a rough idea by weighing an empty balloon and then weighing an inflated one.

    If the idea proves feasible (which I doubt) you might find it more marketable if you sold it in drinkable form. That way you could label it oxy-gin.
    • thumb

      griffin tucker 10+

      • 0
      Sep 10 2011: oxygen is compressable, and most of the air surrounding you right now would be nitrogen, not oxygen. but you're right, the amount of oxygen required for one human would probably require daily consumption. you've made me think of something though.

      once the oxygen is used up in the blood stream, it transforms to co^2, at which point it needs to be removed from the body, or transformed back into oxygen again. if those bio-engineering scientists can come up with a way to maximise oxygen produce from plant materials being fed co^2, then perhaps the 'pellets' can contain the plant material, and the pellets can 'seek and transform' co^2 into oxygen, keeping a healthy balance of oxygen via the network of nanotech 'pellets.'
      • thumb

        Timothy Campbell

        • 0
        Sep 10 2011: If the plant-based pellets are to break CO2 back into carbon and oxygen, they'll need light. And since every human I know is opaque, you'd have to embed the plant-based extractors into the skin (rather than swallowing pellets). It sounds like it could work, but I doubt people would be too keen about having to bask their green naked bodies in the sun for hours at a time.

        Incidentally, according to one web site I saw, one cubic meter of oxygen at standard temperate and pressure weighs 1.33 kilograms.
        • thumb

          griffin tucker 10+

          • 0
          Sep 10 2011: i wonder how small an ultraviolet emitting light device could be made?

          as for the compressable oxygen idea, perhaps not a good idea...spontaneously combusting cows are hard enough to explain...
Showing all 6 comments