INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
South Koreans may soon be able to carry a device inside their own bodies in the form of a bespoke tattoo that automatically alerts them to
potential health problems, if a science team&s project bears fruit, Reuters reported Tuesday. Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute
of Science and Technology (KAIST) in the city of Daejeon southwest of Seoul have developed an electronic tattoo ink made of liquid metal and
carbon nanotubes that functions as a bioelectrode.Hooked up to an electrocardiogram (ECG) device or other biosensor, it can send a readout
of a patient&s heart rate and other vital signs such glucose and lactate to a monitor.The researchers eventually aim to be able to dispense
with biosensors.In the future, what we hope to do is connect a wireless chip integrated with this ink, so that we can communicate, or we can
send signal back and forth between our body to an external device,& said project leader Steve Park, a materials science and engineering
professor.Such monitors could in theory be located anywhere, including in patients& homes.The ink is non-invasive and made from particles
based on gallium, a soft, silvery metal also used in semiconductors or in thermometers
Platinum-decorated carbon nanotubes help conduct electricity while providing durability.When it is applied to the skin, even with rubbing
the tattoo doesn''t come off, which is not possible with just liquid metal,& Park said.The post South Korea develops nanotech tattoo as
health monitoring device first appeared on Ariana News.
