This article contains a crapload of speculation that goes well beyond what was actually accomplished:
>"But before Tian’s group can turn the phenomenon into a tool, they must first understand how exactly a cell will eat a piece of silicon nanowire, and what happens to it once it’s inside the cell. That’s what the group did in today’s report.
[...]
The process is called phagocytosis"
>"phagocytosis (from Ancient Greek φαγεῖν (phagein) , meaning "to devour", κύτος, (kytos) , meaning "cell", and -osis, meaning "process") is the process by which a cell—often a phagocyte or a protist—engulfs a solid particle"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phagocytosis
So, here is what was really accomplished here (according to this summary). Some researchers asked: "How does a cell eat a silicon nanowire?" They got the answer: "by eating it".
That said, it seems like a useful thing to know that this substance will be phagocytosed. I wish they gave more context though, eg is the nanowire biologically inert, is there something special about the silicon here, etc.
>"But before Tian’s group can turn the phenomenon into a tool, they must first understand how exactly a cell will eat a piece of silicon nanowire, and what happens to it once it’s inside the cell. That’s what the group did in today’s report. [...] The process is called phagocytosis"
>"phagocytosis (from Ancient Greek φαγεῖν (phagein) , meaning "to devour", κύτος, (kytos) , meaning "cell", and -osis, meaning "process") is the process by which a cell—often a phagocyte or a protist—engulfs a solid particle" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phagocytosis
So, here is what was really accomplished here (according to this summary). Some researchers asked: "How does a cell eat a silicon nanowire?" They got the answer: "by eating it".
That said, it seems like a useful thing to know that this substance will be phagocytosed. I wish they gave more context though, eg is the nanowire biologically inert, is there something special about the silicon here, etc.