By building thin, flexible silicon electronics on silk substrates, researchers have made implantable electronics that almost completely dissolve inside the body.

University of Pennsylvania researchers are developing silk-silicon LEDs that might act as photonic tattoos that can show blood-sugar readings, and arrays of conformable electrodes that might interface with the nervous system.

The electrodes might be wrapped around individual peripheral nerves to help control prostheses. And arrays of silk electrodes could be used for deep-brain stimulation to control Parkinson’s symptoms.