Ordinarily, the immune system registers an electronic implant as a foreign body, and responds by encapsulating it in scar tissue in order to isolate it. Unfortunately, that tissue clogs the ports that the device uses to deliver medication, ultimately rendering it useless.

A team of scientists from the University of Galway (Scotland) and MIT set out to change that, developing a prototype drug-delivery implant known as the FibroSensing Dynamic Soft Reservoir (FSDSR).

The soft-bodied device has a conductive porous outer membrane, through which an electrical signal continuously passes. As the pores of that membrane start getting blocked by scar tissue cells, the signal is impeded.