Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://www.instagram.com/p/C17HxyJrqbb/ As you fill your stomach with food, its distended walls send signals to your brain that its time to stop eating.  MIT mechanical bioengineers have invented an ingestible capsule that triggers these same signals.  When tested in experimental animals, appropriately enough young and growing pigs, the capsules reduced the animals’ intakes by some 40%. The vibrating capsule, named VIBES for Vibrating Ingestible BioElectronic Stimulator, is the size of a multivitamin and includes, besides the electric vibrator, a silver oxide battery, control circuitry, and a switch activated by gastric enzymes.  The capsule, ingested 20 minutes before a meal, vibrates for nearly 40 minutes covering most of the time occupied by active eating.  The capsule then passes harmlessly through the gastrointestinal tract. This mechanical satiation inducer, when commercially available, will be yet another weapon in our relentless battle against obesity.  It will join the wildly popular a