Pumping for longer Getty

IT’S a pump that could bring your heart back to life. A lack of donated hearts often means people with heart failure die waiting for a replacement. But now a robotic device has been designed to help out with pumping duties to keep diseased hearts beating for longer. Nikolay Vasilyev at Boston Children’s Hospital, one of the creators of the device, hopes it may even allow a full heart recovery, rendering a transplant unnecessary.

The device consists of an implanted semi-circular brace that hugs the diseased chamber, surrounding it with an inflatable sleeve. To keep it …