Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Heart Beats Outside Body With Help of Machine

by Caleb Johnson on June 4, 2009 at 03:58 PM


Featuring a setup made of pipes and rods running in and out of a still-beating heart, a lab at North Carolina State University (NCSU) could be mistaken for that of a mad scientist. Researchers there have recently created a computer-controlled machine that can keep a heart beating outside the body, according to NCSU's Web site.

Researchers said they plan to use the machine (designed by NCSU mechanical engineering students) in conjunction with internal cameras so that they might be able to determine the best way to repair heart valves. Don't worry; researchers aren't using human hearts just yet. A local pork processing facility donates pig hearts for the betterment of medicine and science.

We hope this engineering marvel will help lead to some truly amazing medical breakthroughs. That said, we can't help feeling a little odd while watching the video. After all, the closest we have come to seeing a heart beat outside a body was when we watched 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.' [From: NCSU, via Neatorama]


Tags: cardiovascular, engineering, heart, medical, research, science

Add your comments

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular