Heart surgery is a big deal. Doctors frequently have to use a reciprocating saw to cut through your breastbone, often have to flip over your heart to get at the backside of it. Any tech that makes this unnecessary, or even a bit easier, is a real boon.

This camera is threaded to your heart via an artery and produces high resolution images in real time.

Though it’s roughly the size of a grain of uncooked quinoa, the images it produces are able to replace two people in the surgical theater. Prior to the invention of this speck-sized sensor, technicians would pore over lower-fidelity cross-sectional images and guide the surgeon verbally while she held the patient’s life in her hands. Degertekin likens his little invention to a flashlight that illuminates the obstructions in a blood vessel, giving doctors a direct look at what they’re up against.

This is a major leap.