A government program wanted to make the perfect artificial heart—with radioactive decay

by Larra Morris

The idea of putting a decaying radioactive isotope inside your chest might make you a little uneasy—and rightly so. But in 1967, the National Heart Institute and the Atomic Energy Agency set out to make it happen in the form of a plutonium-238-powered atomic heart. Think Tony Stark with nuclear waste in his chest.

The program, operating on Federal funds, actually went on for about a decade and was spurred by contractors who took great pains to frame this atomic solution as the only solution.
via Gizmodo

Quickly and accurately identify inter-domain leakage issues in IC designs

Sponsored by Siemens Digital Industries Software

Power domain leakage is a major IC reliability issue, often missed by traditional tools. This white paper describes challenges of identifying leakage, types of false results, and presents Siemens EDA’s Insight Analyzer. The tool proactively finds true leakage paths, filters out false positives, and helps circuit designers quickly fix risks—enabling more robust, reliable chip designs. With detailed, context-aware analysis, designers save time and improve silicon quality.

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featured chalk talk

Analog Output, Isolated Current, & Voltage Sensing Using Isolation Amplifiers

Sponsored by Mouser Electronics and Vishay

In this episode of Chalk Talk, Simon Goodwin from Vishay and Amelia Dalton chat about analog output, and isolated current and voltage sensing using isolation amplifiers. Simon and Amelia also explore the fundamental principles of current and voltage sensing and the variety of voltage and current sensing solutions offered by Vishay that can get your next design up and running in no time.

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Apr 27, 2026

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A government program wanted to make the perfect artificial heart—with radioactive decay

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