Down the tubes

摘要

It sounds outlandish, but chemists reckon biodegradable nanotubes could one day save the lives of people who have overdosed on drugs. About 3000 people in Britain die each year from drug poisoning. Heroin is the biggest killer, followed by the painkiller paracetamol. Current treatments involve feeding the patient porous carbon to absorb the toxic substances from the stomach, or running blood through a carbon filter. But a new treatment could be on its way. At this week's American Chemical Society meeting in Orlando, Florida, Charles Martin and David Mitchell at the University of Florida in Gainesville described how an injection of nanotubes could detox patients.