In the Media

MIT researchers have created “a vibrating pill that stimulates nerve endings in the stomach to tell the brain it’s time to stop eating,” reports Mitch Leslie for Science. “A gel plug in the pill keeps the motor from switching on,” explains Leslie. “But the gel dissolves rapidly when it contacts stomach fluid, allowing the motor to start turning. When that happens, the pill shakes for about 38 minutes, roughly the amount of time it would stay in the stomach. The researchers hypothesized that these vibrations would stimulate the stretch-sensing nerve endings and signal satiety.”