--- title: "This Steampunk Bionic Heart Uses Maglev Tech to Pump Blood" description: "A team of engineers from private medical company Bivacor have been working on an artificial, bionic heart that can allow cardiac patients to stay alive." date: "2019-08-22" modified: "2019-08-22" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/bionic-heart-maglev-bivacor" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Prosthetics and Devices" tags: - "artificial heart" - "artificial hearts" - "artificial organs" - "human organs" --- # This Steampunk Bionic Heart Uses Maglev Tech to Pump Blood ![A team of engineers from private medical company Bivacor have been working on an artificial, bionic heart that can allow cardiac patients to stay alive.]() *\Image: Texas Heart Institute\* A team of engineers from private medical company Bivacor have been working hard since 2001 on building a bionic heart that can allow cardiac patients to stay alive, according to a recent [*IEEE Spectrum* writeup]() by three of the company's engineers. The steampunk apparatus works by harnessing the power of magnetic levitation to spin a disc at extremely fast speeds to pump blood to the body and return oxygen-depleted blood to the lungs. Rather than replace a heart indefinitely, the Bivacor heart is meant to pump blood for cardiac patients — while they're waiting for donor organs to arrive. It's far smaller and lighter at just 650 grams — plus a wearable external controller that contains batteries — than existing artificial hearts, according to Bivacor. That means it could allow patients to get on with their daily lives. It also doesn't attempt to mimic the human heart like its 3D printed counterparts. Instead, it rather uses a magnetically levitating centrifugal pump — no valves, no ventricles — that supplies a continuous stream of blood. Oddly enough, that means the patient would technically have no pulse. Bivacor and surgeons at the Texas Heart Institute ran an animal trial involving a brown cow in April to test it out. The lucky cow stayed "healthy and energetic" throughout the 90-day trial and even "jogged on a treadmill for 30-minute stretches," according to the *IEEE Spectrum* writeup. Bivacor is hoping to submit a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for human trials in 2020. ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()