Now this is what I am talking about. The full article on the BBC is here. Science fiction is becoming science fact. Below is an extract:

Jeremy Smith, who is studying for his A Levels, is one of the volunteers.

The 17-year-old has had several overnight stays at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge.

Computerised dose

Each time the diabetes care team fit him with a continuous glucose sensor which sits just under the skin.

The artificial pancreas could dramatically improve quality of life, and life expectancy Karen Addington Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

This beams his blood sugar readings to a monitor.

The idea then is for a computer programme to work out the right dose of insulin, which is delivered via an insulin pump.

The artificial pancreas would automate diabetes care and free people from the repeated need for finger prick blood tests and insulin injections.

But the system has not gone live yet. Instead Jeremy's glucose levels are checked every 15 minutes throughout the night and his insulin dose is altered manually.

It will be another six months before the first automated, hands-free trial is conducted.

Mathematical problem

The main stumbling block in the development of an artificial pancreas has been mathematical: no-one has perfected a computer programme sophisticated enough to work out the right dose of insulin at any moment of the day.

The human body has a very clever way of working out exactly how much insulin the body needs, and we are only just beginning to understand that Dr Roman Hovorka University of Cambridge

That is why the scientist leading the trial is not a medical doctor, but a mathematician.