Antenna pill

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Rizwan Bashirullah, a University of Florida assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, holds a pill capsule designed to signal when a patient has swallowed it in this photo taken March 19, 2010. The pill is needed because many patients fail to take their medication, exacerbating medical problems, causing unneeded hospitalizations and leading to an estimated 217,000 deaths annually. Consisting of an antenna made with nontoxic silver nanoparticles and a tiny microchip about the size of a period, the pill works by communicating from inside the body with a stand-alone device worn by the patient.

(Photo by: Ray Carson, UF News Bureau)
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