Personal information in the digital realm is always susceptible to malicious activity. Passwords can be stolen from a database, credit card numbers swiped at the point of sale; even the new American passports contain RFID chips which critics claim can be surreptitiously read. Now, even a pacemaker can be hacked from the outside.

Although doctors may someday heal weakened body parts by infusing them with stem cells that develop into specialized tissues, coaxing the body´s own cells to become self-repairing would be an even bigger biological coup. What if we could simply prompt damaged organs to repair themselves?

When it comes to matters of the heart, big is usually better. But big and floppy is another story. After a heart attack or other assault that weakens the heart's muscles, the organ begins to enlarge. The stress can kill so many cells that the heart begins to look like a "big floppy bag," says Dr. Hani Sabbah, the inventor of a mesh-like jacket that protects against the stretching that leads to heart failure. It's currently in clinical trials.