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Google Announces Smart Contact Lens Project For Diabetics
An anonymous reader writes "Google has announced on its official blog that it's working on a new way for diabetics to monitor their blood sugar: a 'smart' contact lens. Diabetes is a difficult condition to treat because blood sugar levels vary widely by a person's activity level and food intake. It's also hard to monitor without painful and intrusive measurements — people can feel normal at dangerously high blood sugar levels, while extremely low levels can impair their ability to seek treatment. Google says, 'Over the years, many scientists have investigated various body fluids—such as tears—in the hopes of finding an easier way for people to track their glucose levels. But as you can imagine, tears are hard to collect and study. At Google[x], we wondered if miniaturized electronics—think: chips and sensors so small they look like bits of glitter, and an antenna thinner than a human hair—might be a way to crack the mystery of tear glucose and measure it with greater accuracy. We're now testing a smart contact lens that's built to measure glucose levels in tears using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor that are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material. We're testing prototypes that can generate a reading once per second.' They're talking with the FDA and bringing in experts to help them figure out the best way to do it."
No, it's not amazing at all. First of all, it's Google who are doing it. Yes, the same Google that gave us a retarded pair of skiing glasses with a camera strapped on to them. The chance of THIS working is close to zero. Second, it's Google who is doing this. IF they would succeed, they would want to monitor the user and charge shit-loads of money for it. Great, huh? Third, a whole bunch of other research programs are doing non-invasive BG research right now. I hope one of them succeed but I very much hope this one does not.