Engineers develop tiny pacemaker, smaller than a grain of rice

A new, tiny pacemaker — smaller than a grain of rice — developed at Northwestern University could play a sizable role in the future of medicine, according to the engineers who developed it.

Researchers unveiled the device, which they say is the smallest pacemaker in the world, in a study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

Though the device is still years away from being used in humans, it could eventually be useful for infants with congenital heart defects and also for adults, the researchers say.