Imagine having major surgery without any exterior incisions at all. That's the promise of this half-inch-wide snake robot, seen here navigating a model human heart. It enters into a patient's mouth and then travels down into the body cavity, through the wall of the stomach before removing, say, the gall bladder. With a reduced chance of infection, quicker recovery time, and less anesthesia required, snake robot operations would stand to greatly reduce the cost and malpractice liability of vital procedures.