A Remote-Controlled Birth Control Implant

07-10-2014 • popsci.com

It's a whole new level of set it and forget it. Researchers are testing a remote-controlled implant that releases daily doses of hormonal birth control into the body, MIT Technology Review reports. The implant is designed to last up to 16 years.

If and when the user wants to conceive, she simply clicks the implant's remote control to turn it off. When she wants to prevent pregnancy again, she can click to restart the minute machine.

The implant's developer, MicroCHIPS of Massachusetts, is now testing its little chip in animals. The implant has been previously tested in people for four months, for delivering daily osteoporosis medicine. If the new birth-control tests go well, MicroCHIPS will have to test the chip-and-hormone package in people. At