Study on the biocompatibility of Ga-based and Al-assisted self-driven liquid metal in cell and animal experiments for drug delivery

BACKGROUND: With inherent flexibility, high electroconductivity, excellent thermal conductivity, easy printability and biosafety, Ga-based functional liquid metals (LMs) have been extensively evaluated for biomedical applications. When implanted in the biological environment, the safety of the LMs is a major concern for future application. METHODS: In this study, we conducted several biocompatibility assessments through immersion experiments, in vitro cytotoxicity experiments and in vivo embedding experiments. RESULTS: The results showed that both the Al-assisted self-driven LM and the LM per se own good biocompatibility and retrievable properties when contacted with living organisms for a relatively long period of time. CONCLUSION: This study provides preliminary evidence about the biocompatibility of the functional LM materials, such as LM-based soft machine, which would promote and inspire other research to address other tough biomedical issues.

Directional liquid dynamics of interfaces with superwettability

Natural creatures use their surface structures to control directional liquid dynamics for survival. Learning from nature, artificial superwetting materials have triggered technological revolutions in many disciplines. To improve controllability, researchers have attempted to use external fields, such as thermal, light, magnetic, and electric fields, to assist or achieve controllable liquid dynamics. Emerging directional liquid transport applications have prosperously advanced in recent years but still present some challenges. This review discusses and summarizes the field of directional liquid dynamics on natural creatures and artificial surfaces with superwettabilities and ventures to propose several potential strategies to construct directional liquid transport systems for fog collection, 3D printing, energy devices, separation, soft machine, and sensor devices, which are useful for driving liquid transport or motility.

Compression Test of Soft Food Gels Using a Soft Machine with an Artificial Tongue

Care food is increasingly required in the advanced-aged society. Mechanical properties of such foods must be modified such that the foods are easily broken by the tongue without chewing. When foods are compressed between the tongue and the hard palate, the tongue deforms considerably, and only soft foods are broken. To simulate tongue compression of soft foods, artificial tongues with stiffness similar to that of the human tongue were created using clear soft materials. Model soft gels were prepared using gellan gums. A piece of gel on an artificial tongue was compressed using a texture analyzer. The deformation profile during the compression test was obtained using a video capture system. The soft machine equipped a soft artificial tongue sometimes fractured food gels unlike hard machine, which always fracture gels. The fracture properties measured using the soft machine were better than those obtained from a conventional test between hard plates to mimic natural oral processing in humans. The fracture force on foods measured using this soft machine may prove useful for the evaluation of food texture that can be mashed using the tongue.

Burroughs, William S. (1914–1997)

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, William S. Burroughs was a major figure of the Beat Generation. He is known primarily for his controversial novel Naked Lunch (1959)—the subject of a US obscenity trial—and for his use of the cut-up technique, developed by his friend, British-born artist Brion Gysin. The technique involves cutting up and reassembling text or film in random order to produce non-linear anti-narratives; influences include Dadaist collage procedures and T.S. Eliot’s "The Waste Land." Using this technique, Burroughs collaborated with Gysin and filmmaker Anthony Balch to produce short experimental films, including Towers Open Fire (1963), The Cut Ups (1967), and Bill and Tony (1972). The films juxtapose and overlay documentary footage of Burroughs and others with stock footage, as well as surreal, pornographic, and science-fiction imagery. Burroughs also narrated portions of the films, in part using text appropriated from Scientology manuals and film scripts—notably Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932). Fragments from The Soft Machine (1961), part of the science-fiction Nova Trilogy, appear in the narration of Towers Open Fire. Burroughs also appeared in numerous feature films.