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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

This robot vapes for science

A tabletop device that can ‘inhale’ nicotine-laden vapour could help to explain why some e-cigarettes cause grave lung injury.
A clear box on a lab bench containing wires and electronics connected to a cigarette-shaped vape pen

A vaping robot includes a vacuum pump, enabling it to ‘inhale’ aerosols from electronic cigarettes Credit: Benam Lab at University of Pittsburgh and Pneumax LLC

Safer than cigarettes — that was the idea when vaping exploded in popularity several years ago. But since then, vaping devices, which can produce a nicotine-laced vapour, have been linked to more than 2,500 hospitalizations and dozens of deaths in the United States alone.

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Nature 598, 11 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02679-0

References

  1. Kaiser, A. J. et al. iScience https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.isci.2021.103091 (2021).

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