Computers Embedded in Our Skin Like a Tattoo

[Feuer Frei!]

A small electronic device slapped onto the skin like a temporary tattoo could bring us closer to a future that melds body and machine, a cyborg world where people have cell phones embedded in their throats and Internet browsers literally at their fingertips. Described in the Aug. 12 Science, the gizmos were developed by researchers looking to create less obtrusive medical monitors for premature babies and other special-needs patients. But the technologys potential for integrating computers into the human body could be vast.
This is a huge breakthrough, says nanoengineer Michael McAlpine of Princeton University. This goes beyond Dick Tracy calling someone with a cell phone on the wrist. Its having the wrist itself house the device so its always with you.
Though traditional electronic devices are becoming smaller and more powerful, they are still clunky external objects that must be held in the hand or touched. The new stretchy, wireless electronics promise to seamlessly integrate the body with the surrounding electronic world.
The challenge, says study coauthor John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was matching typically rigid electrical components to the soft, stretchy and flexible skin. Rogers and his colleagues achieved this by converting brittle silicon to a more forgiving state by making it very thin.


he electronic components which can include light-emitting diodes, solar cells, transistors and antennae, among other things were all constructed in a malleable net of wavy S-shapes similar to old-fashioned coiled telephone cords, which allows the circuits to work when stretched in any direction. The researchers sandwiched these components between two protective layers of polyimide, a type of polymer. These layers sit on top of a rubbery silicone film that adheres to skin with weak chemical bonds. The device can also be applied in a temporary tattoo, which both disguises the grid and makes it stick longer.
Rogers is focused on medical applications for the electronic skin. But the basic building blocks of the system can be configured in many ways for widely different uses, he says.
I think creative folks out there will think of things we havent even contemplated, Rogers says.


The superthin electronic skin wrinkles, puckers and stretches just like the bodys skin, making it less intrusive than the bulky wires and cumbersome electrodes typically used to monitor vital signs.
You can put these on someones skin and they can wrinkle their forehead. They could frown, says neurologist and bioengineer Brian Litt of the University of Pennsylvania. The materials science is just wonderful.
The adhesive electronics pick up signals from peoples heartbeats when stuck on the chest, skeletal muscle activity when stuck on the leg, and brain waves when stuck on the forehead, the researchers report. In the study, signals from the body traveled from the device along a thin wire to a computer.


SOURCE

[STEED]

More like Human slavery turning us in to cattle, no thank you.

[joea]

Originally Posted by STEED

More like Human slavery turning us in to cattle, no thank you.

Exactly!

[Growler]

Thunk of the possibilities, though! A 3D video site for adult movies, right there on your... A whole new world of "skin flicks" awaits!

[MH]

No sexy ipad....nah...

[Growler]

Or a 3d site like that on HER forehead.

[Hottentot]

Great, soon I won't be going to the clinic for vaccinations, but to a computer store to get a new anti-virus software. I just hope I don't catch one that requires them to format me. And just think of the new meaning "spyware" would get.

Edit: And how freaking long is my avatar going to be this ridiculous Mr. Nice Hair?! I'm going to spam threads with cats and dogs until it becomes something else!

[Sailor Steve]

Throw Neal some moolah and get the one you want.

[Growler]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Throw Neal some moolah and get the one you want.

Or throw Neal some moolah and don't. Just throw Neal some moolah.

[jumpy]

The Tripods anyone?

[krashkart]

That is an awesome application of technology, I must admit.

[mapuc]

Ain't it a passage in the Holy Bible saying something about

" small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: "

It's from the book revelation I think.

Markus

[Takeda Shingen]

ZOMG markofthebeastmarkofthebeastmarkofthebeast!!!111!! 111oneoneone



In seriousness, and as a former viewer now reformed, the 700 Club crowd will be all over this.

[Castout]

Originally Posted by STEED

More like Human slavery turning us in to cattle, no thank you.

Yeah no way. No thank you. I like my body without any gadget in it.

[Anthony W.]

I'm perfectly fine with having things in my hand. Gah I can only imagine being RFID'd like a dog microchip.

No thank you for this...

Tho I do think the micro medical monitors for premies and special needs patients is a great idea.