A bionic heart under development at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston uses only a single moving part that levitates between magnets inside the device. That is one reason why researchers say this could be the first feasible commercial replacement for the human heart.

The short lifespans of past attempted bionic hearts have limited their usefulness. The heart beats thousands of times per hour and tens of millions of time per year, so the constant grind of moving parts will wear down a manufactured heart.