<p>The tiny device with fins, nicknamed The Mermaid, is the world’s first capsule camera small enough to swim through the human digestive tract.<br /><br />Japanese scientists who developed it said the device can be gulped down and controlled remotely, the Daily Mail reported.<br /><br />Researcher Kazuhide Higuchi, of Osaka Medical College, said: “The shape had to be something that people can swallow, and thus move around freely inside the body and take a picture.”<br /><br />Capsule cameras already exist but most are propelled through the stomach and intestine by peristalsis, the movement of muscles in the digestive tract, limiting their usefulness.<br />But the device has been fitted with magnetic field-powered fins which help it swim around on remote control as it sends pictures back to the examining doctors.<br /><br />The capsule also works the same way as suppositories for examinations of the large intestine, researchers said. It leaves the body the same way.<br /><br />Dr Higuchi said: “Even if you leave it inside the body after it finishes taking pictures of your stomach, it will probably just come out as stool.<br /><br />The camera is still in the prototype phase and researchers said it will take a few more years before it can be put to practical use.</p>
<p>The tiny device with fins, nicknamed The Mermaid, is the world’s first capsule camera small enough to swim through the human digestive tract.<br /><br />Japanese scientists who developed it said the device can be gulped down and controlled remotely, the Daily Mail reported.<br /><br />Researcher Kazuhide Higuchi, of Osaka Medical College, said: “The shape had to be something that people can swallow, and thus move around freely inside the body and take a picture.”<br /><br />Capsule cameras already exist but most are propelled through the stomach and intestine by peristalsis, the movement of muscles in the digestive tract, limiting their usefulness.<br />But the device has been fitted with magnetic field-powered fins which help it swim around on remote control as it sends pictures back to the examining doctors.<br /><br />The capsule also works the same way as suppositories for examinations of the large intestine, researchers said. It leaves the body the same way.<br /><br />Dr Higuchi said: “Even if you leave it inside the body after it finishes taking pictures of your stomach, it will probably just come out as stool.<br /><br />The camera is still in the prototype phase and researchers said it will take a few more years before it can be put to practical use.</p>