For people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, checking insulin levels is just part of everyday life.
And it can be seriously stressful. But what if there was a way to keep track of your health without the use of expensive devices and testing strips? Well researchers at Harvard and MIT have come up with a monitoring system that mimics body art. These color-changing tattoos can monitor not only diabetes, but other conditions as well.
With the combined efforts of the two universities, researchers have developed a biosensing tattoo using DermalAbyss ink that changes color in response to things like blood sugar levels.
DermalAbyss ink is also able to keep track of pH levels, as well as sodium and glucose in your bloodstream.
Too much glucose in your system, for example, results in the tattoo turning brown, while too much sodium will turn the body art green.
And if you’re experiencing a change in your body’s pH levels, your tattoo will change to shades of purple or pink.
The ink is so sensitive, in fact, that it monitors your interstitial fluids down to the lining of the cells.
The ink has only been tested on pig skin and human trials are pending.
Check out the video below to learn more about this bizarre technique.
(via IFL Science)