No stitches through the nerve: a glue-like system for delicate repairs earns a place among the year's best inventions

Repairing a torn peripheral nerve usually means sewing its delicate ends with microscopic stitches that can themselves cause harm. COAPTIUM CONNECT, from Paris-founded medtech company TISSIUM, instead joins nerve ends with a light-activated, absorbable material that avoids piercing them — and TIME has named it one of its Best Inventions of 2026 in medical care. Surgeons get a gentler tool; patients get a repair designed to do less damage on the way to healing.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation