Implantable defibrillators have saved countless lives by applying electric shocks to jump-start failing hearts.
But these devices have one serious flaw: they often go off when they are not needed, giving unsuspecting and perfectly healthy recipients the fright of their lives. “People often don’t realise just what unpleasant and flawed devices standard defibrillators are,” says Andrew Grace, a cardiologist and biochemist at the University of Cambridge and Papworth Hospital, also in Cambridge.
For this reason he has been working with Cameron Health of San Clemente, California, to develop a defibrillator that may spell an end to unnecessary shocks by more…
