Skip to Content

Slick Surgery

After surgery, normally separate surfaces sometimes attach like biological Velcro-a process called adhesion, which interferes with recovery. A Boston startup has come up with the surgeon’s equivalent of Saran Wrap to prevent adhesion.

According to inventor and CEO Amar Sawhney, Confluent Surgical is testing a device that squirts two streams of polyethylene glycol, a polymer found in everything from eyedrops to lipstick. The streams are chemically modified so that when they meet, they react to form a solid that coats tissues with a jelly-like layer. Confluent has begun human testing in Europe for preventing adhesion in infertility treatments, where scars on the ovaries can prevent implanted eggs from descending into the fallopian tube.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

Deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton has quit Google

Hinton will be speaking at EmTech Digital on Wednesday.

Video: Geoffrey Hinton talks about the “existential threat” of AI

Watch Hinton speak with Will Douglas Heaven, MIT Technology Review’s senior editor for AI, at EmTech Digital.

Doctors have performed brain surgery on a fetus in one of the first operations of its kind

A baby girl who developed a life-threatening brain condition was successfully treated before she was born—and is now a healthy seven-week-old.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.