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Technology

Wasp inspires brain-boring surgical robot

By David Robson

21 January 2009

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

A wood wasp, seen in a coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM). This wasp, also called a horntail, is in the family Siricidae. Females lay eggs in the bark of pine trees, using a needle-like ovipositor. They partnership can cause severe damage to pine forests

(Image: Steve Gschmeissner / SPL)

A BRAIN-boring robot that burrows its way through tissue in the same way a wasp digs through wood could make keyhole surgery safer.

The female wood wasps of the Siricidae family use a needle-like ovipositor to deposit eggs inside pine trees. This has two dovetailed shafts, each covered in backward-facing…

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