Skip to main content

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

3 comments

World's First: Humanoid Robots Successfully Perform Live Surgery—Medicine Will Never Be the Same

Imagine a future where a skilled surgeon can perform a life-saving operation on a patient living thousands of kilometers away, using a humanoid robot. That future has just moved one step closer to reality.

In a historic breakthrough, researchers at the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) have successfully used teleoperated humanoid robots to perform live surgeries for the first time. The achievement, published in the prestigious journal Nature, marks a major milestone in robotic surgery and could transform health care across the world.

The study demonstrates that humanoid robots are no longer just futuristic machines—they may soon become valuable members of surgical teams, helping doctors save lives in hospitals, remote villages, disaster zones, battlefields, and even space.

A Historic First in Surgery

The research team conducted two successful surgeries during a preclinical trial using large nonprimate mammals.

In the first operation, a humanoid robot worked together with a human surgeon. The robot carried out a gallbladder removal procedure, while the surgeon acted as an assistant.

In the second operation, two humanoid robots worked side by side, successfully completing the surgery as a robot-robot team under human control.

Although these procedures were not performed on human patients, they prove that humanoid robots can safely and effectively carry out complex surgical tasks when guided by skilled surgeons.

This is the first time in history that teleoperated humanoid robots have successfully completed surgeries in this way.

What Does "Teleoperated" Mean?

Teleoperation means that the robot is controlled remotely by a human surgeon.

Instead of standing directly beside the patient, the surgeon uses special controls to guide every movement of the robot. The robot copies these movements with remarkable precision, allowing delicate surgical procedures to be performed from another location.

This technology could eventually allow expert surgeons to treat patients who live in places where specialized medical care is unavailable.

Why This Breakthrough Matters

One of the biggest challenges facing modern health care is the growing shortage of surgeons.

As populations increase and people live longer, more patients need surgery. Unfortunately, many hospitals—especially in rural or developing regions—do not have enough trained surgeons.

This leads to:

  • Longer waiting times for surgery

  • Limited access to specialist care

  • Greater health care inequality

  • Higher risks for patients who cannot receive treatment quickly

According to the research team, teleoperated humanoid robots could help solve this problem by allowing expert surgeons to operate remotely, reaching patients who would otherwise have little or no access to advanced surgical care.

Meet "Surgie"

The humanoid robots used in the study are nicknamed Surgie.

Unlike traditional surgical robots, which are massive and permanently installed in specialized operating rooms, Surgie is much smaller and more flexible.

Each robot is:

  • About 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall

  • Weighs only 60 pounds (27 kilograms)

  • Compact and mobile

  • Able to move around like a human

Because of their small size, these robots can easily fit into existing operating rooms without requiring expensive renovations.

Researchers only needed to build simple adapters so the robots could hold standard surgical instruments.

Better Than Traditional Surgical Robots?

Today's robotic surgery systems are extremely advanced but also very expensive.

Many weigh nearly 1,800 pounds, require several robotic arms, specialized equipment, proprietary software, and a large team to operate them.

Installing these systems often requires hospitals to redesign entire operating rooms, making them unavailable in many parts of the world.

Humanoid robots offer several important advantages:

  • Smaller and lightweight

  • Much lower cost

  • Easier to transport

  • Require less space

  • Can perform many different tasks

  • Work with existing surgical tools

Instead of being designed for only one purpose, humanoid robots can assist with many different medical procedures and hospital duties.

Natural to Control

Researchers were surprised by how naturally the humanoid robots fit into the operating room.

Because they have human-like arms and movements, surgeons found them easier to use than expected.

Doctors who participated in the study said controlling the robot felt intuitive, even for those without extensive experience using specialized robotic surgery systems.

This human-like design may reduce the learning curve for future surgeons.

Precision Comparable to Existing Systems

According to the researchers, the humanoid robots achieved a level of surgical precision comparable to today's specialized robotic surgery platforms.

This is remarkable considering the robots are smaller, less expensive, and far more versatile.

The research suggests that hospitals may eventually achieve similar surgical performance without investing millions of dollars in large robotic systems.

Bringing Surgery to Remote Communities

Perhaps the greatest benefit of this technology is accessibility.

Many rural communities around the world lack specialist surgeons.

Instead of transporting patients long distances to major hospitals, future teleoperated robots could allow expert surgeons in cities to perform operations remotely.

This could dramatically improve emergency care in:

  • Rural villages

  • Remote islands

  • Developing countries

  • Disaster relief areas

  • Military battlefields

  • Search-and-rescue missions

Researchers even believe these robots could one day assist astronauts during long-duration space missions, where having an onboard surgeon is impossible.

Challenges Still Remain

Although the achievement is impressive, the technology is still in its early stages.

The researchers encountered several technical challenges during the surgeries.

One issue was robot recalibration.

The robots had to be adjusted multiple times during the procedures, making the surgeries much slower than operations performed using current surgical robots.

Another challenge is latency—the slight delay between the surgeon's hand movements and the robot's response.

Even tiny delays become important during delicate operations.

The research team is now working to reduce these delays, especially for long-distance surgeries where internet communication introduces additional lag.

Fortunately, scientists believe these problems will improve over time.

Early robotic laparoscopic surgeries once required six hours, but today many similar procedures take only 30 minutes.

More Than Just a Surgeon

Researchers also envision humanoid robots performing many supporting tasks inside hospitals.

Since these robots can walk and interact with their surroundings, they could:

  • Hand surgical tools to doctors

  • Prepare operating rooms

  • Move equipment

  • Clean after procedures

  • Assist nurses during surgery

Eventually, hospitals may use humanoid robots as intelligent surgical assistants rather than simply robotic operating machines.

Humans and Robots Working Together

Importantly, researchers emphasize that these robots are not meant to replace surgeons.

Instead, the goal is to create collaborative teams where humans and robots work together.

Surgeons will continue making medical decisions while robots perform precise physical tasks under their guidance.

This partnership could improve efficiency, reduce surgeon fatigue, and make advanced medical care available to far more patients worldwide.

A Glimpse Into the Future

The success of this project highlights the power of collaboration between engineers and medical professionals.

By combining expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence, and surgery, researchers have taken an important step toward the operating room of the future.

Although more testing is needed before these robots can operate on human patients, the results are incredibly promising.

One day, a patient living in a remote village, a disaster zone, or even on another planet may receive life-saving surgery from a humanoid robot controlled by one of the world's best surgeons.

That future is no longer science fiction—it has officially begun.

Reference: Liang, Z., Thareja, N., Zhang, P. et al. In vivo feasibility study of humanoid robots in surgery. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10796-x

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

For years, scientists believed that adding even one qubit (a unit of quantum information) to a black hole needed energy. This was based on the idea that a black hole’s entropy must increase with more information, which means it must gain energy. But a new study by Jonah Kudler-Flam and Geoff Penington changes that thinking. They found that quantum information can be teleported into a black hole without adding energy or increasing entropy . This works through a process called black hole decoherence , where “soft” radiation — very low-energy signals — carry information into the black hole. In their method, the qubit enters the black hole while a new pair of entangled particles (like Hawking radiation) is created. This keeps the total information balanced, so there's no violation of the laws of physics. The energy cost only shows up when information is erased from the outside — these are called zerobits . According to Landauer’s principle, erasing information always needs energy. But ...
3 comments
Read more

Black Holes That Never Dies

Black holes are powerful objects in space with gravity so strong that nothing can escape them. In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes can slowly lose energy by giving off tiny particles. This process is called Hawking radiation . Over time, the black hole gets smaller and hotter, and in the end, it disappears completely. But new research by Menezes and his team shows something different. Using a theory called Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) , they studied black holes with quantum corrections. In their model, the black hole does not vanish completely. Instead, it stops shrinking when it reaches a very small size. This leftover is called a black hole remnant . They also studied something called grey-body factors , which affect how much energy escapes from a black hole. Their findings show that the black hole cools down and stops losing mass once it reaches a minimum mass . This new model removes the idea of a “singularity” at the center of the black hole and gives us a better ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Planetary Movements Might Explain Sunspot Cycles and Solar Phenomena

Sunspots, dark patches on the Sun's surface, follow a cycle of increasing and decreasing activity every 11 years. For years, scientists have relied on the dynamo model to explain this cycle. According to this model, the Sun's magnetic field is generated by the movement of plasma and the Sun's rotation. However, this model does not fully explain why the sunspot cycle is sometimes unpredictable. Lauri Jetsu, a researcher, has proposed a new approach. Jetsu’s analysis, using a method called the Discrete Chi-square Method (DCM), suggests that planetary movements, especially those of Earth, Jupiter, and Mercury, play a key role in driving the sunspot cycle. His theory focuses on Flux Transfer Events (FTEs), where the magnetic fields of these planets interact with the Sun’s magnetic field. These interactions could create the sunspots and explain other solar phenomena like the Sun’s magnetic polarity reversing every 11 years. The Sun, our closest star, has been a subject of scient...
Post a Comment
Read more