This heat-activated bionic penis has its own memory

It's sort of like Wolverine's adamantium skeleton, but for penises.

US-based researchers have developed an innovative new "bionic penis" that springs into shape when heated above normal body temperature.

Apart from medical treatments like Viagra, surgical options are also available to help restore penile function. But such options—ranging from inflatable implants to malleable inserts—are cumbersome, at best.

But Brian Le of the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Alberto Colombo and Kevin McKenna of Northwestern University; and Kevin McVary of Southern Illinois University have developed what looks to be a far simpler solution.

NiTi implant

The team devised an implant made from Nitinol (NiTi), a special alloy of nickel and titanium that is flexible yet which "remembers" its original shape and automatically snaps back when subjected to enough heat.

A penis with a specially-designed NiTi implant could be made rigid by warming the member above body temperature, using a portable inductive heating device to activate the implant's "memory".

40% of men suffer erectile dysfunction

In a press release, the University of Wisconsin-Madison noted that as many as 4 out of 10 men between 40 and 70 years of age have experienced some kind of erectile dysfunction. Of these, about a third are not responsive to conventional medicine.

"It's a survivorship issue—restoring function can help people feel whole in their bodies again," Le explained. — GMA News