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How High-Tech Temporary Tattoos Will Hack Your Skin

Posted by samzenpus on from the wear-and-test dept.

Molly McHugh writes with this story about sensors that can be attached to temporary tattoos to monitor various medical information. "The Center for Wearable Sensors at the University of California San Diego has been experimenting with attaching sensors to temporary tattoos in order to extract data from the body. The tattoos are worn exactly as a regular temporary tattoo would be worn. The sensors simply sit atop the skin without penetrating it and interact with Bluetooth or other wireless devices with a signal in order to send the data....A biofuel battery applied as a temporary tattoo converts sweat into energy, and a startup within the center has developed a strip that extracts data from sweat to explain how your body is reacting to certain types of exercise. Amay Bandodkar, a fourth year PhD student at UCSD, explains that the sensors are programmed to react to the amount of lactate the body produces."

3 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Or more generally. by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Electronics that are aheavsively attached to your body.
    Yes I know tattoos are popular now. But it isn't like a tattoo if you have electronics sticking out of your body.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:Or more generally. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I wouldn't consider getting a traditional tattoo, but some of the science fiction types have piqued my interest (in concept at least).

      For example, I wouldn't mind getting a forearm tattoo that showed instant readouts of various vital data, e.g. SpO2, heart rate, BP, serum glucose, electrolytes, lactate, bicarb, creatinine, etc. Given that this would have to be animated, I can imagine it having several modes including off (making it invisible), "dim flashlight" mode, rave mode, or whatever.

      Maybe this will be feasible within the next 50 years.

  2. Use the damn language by argStyopa · · Score: 5, Funny

    So "hack" is now a synonym for the simple word "use" whenever it's cool?

    "I hacked the door to go outside."

    "I hacked the language so I could keep using the word 'hack' as much as possible."

    --
    -Styopa