Can electronics vanish?

When I think of the word technology I immediately associate it to resistant or very robust materials. The same that happens to some people when they hear the word Nokia.

Through out history this materials have been used in the making of a large sum of  devices or machines that are supposed to go beyond the time barrier. They are fabricated with this materials in order to be reliable and for people to

But as crazy as it sound some scientists are looking for something very different. "Researchers at the University of Illinois, in collaboration with Tufts University and Northwestern University, have demonstrated a new type of biodegradable electronics technology that could introduce new design paradigms for medical implants, environmental monitors and consumer devices." (http://news.illinois.edu/news/12/0927transient_electronics_JohnRogers.html)

John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder Professor of Engineering at the U. of I. is the one that led this research. He explained that they created a new form of electronics that are supposed to do exactly the opposite of lasting forever. They are supposed to vanish or to physically dissapear, when in contact with water.

They expect to give this kind of electronics (transient electronics) different uses but their main concern is their application on the medical area. For example, medical implants that are built to perform diagnostics or that have therapeutic functions and that will be able to dissolve and resorb in the body, in a programmed manner.

This electronics are able to dissolve when immersed in biofluids and "together with soluble conductors and dielectrics, these materials provide a complete palette for a wide range of electronic components, sensors, wireless transmission systems and more".

Watch John A. Rogers talk about these electronics.