Science is built on a lot of inspiration. Real-life involves a lot of perspiration. When you put the two together and you have this week’s awesome science news update! As technology advances, we see easier and easier ways to monitor our health. The needle in the skin approach is still necessary for a lot of biometric measurements, but that could change thanks to some clever thinking and a new invention. What's the new non-invasive way of studying the body?
There are many functions in the human body that require invasive techniques to properly study. However, some new ideas are making a few body measurements possible without the need for needles or other invasive techniques. A team of researchers just developed a new way to measure sweat rate and sweat composition using a cutting edge new printable technology. A newly design printable sensor has given scientists some insight into some fascinating information about what our sweat can tell us.
First of all the printable aspect is great because it allows for many of these to be created at a much lower cost than previously available. Imagine a small sticky plastic square about an inch or so wide with sensors printed on it, well that’s basically what this is. These printed sensors can continuously analyze sweat on a person For example when they’re exercising or sick.
This sensor would be able to calculate the sweat rate and give an indication of overall liquid loss for the body, helping the individual know more about their liquid loss in real time and maybe take some preventative actions like chugging some water before a dehydrstion-headache sets in! Using this technology scientists are also able to study the sweat composition for electrolytes and metabolites. Our sweat includes information on our body’s electrolyte composition like potassium and sodium. These sensors can also gauge levels of metabolites like glucose.
The hope here is that sensors like these could one day give real time bio-metrics to people without the need for invasive methods. Understanding our bodily functions is important in order to keep healthy. For those worried about needles and invasive medical processes, this new invention should make those folks not sweat it as much!
