Computers get under our skin—Epidermal devices integrate electronics into the body

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/333186/description/Computers_get_under_our_skin_

Computers get under our skin

Epidermal devices integrate electronics into the body

By Laura Sanders
Web edition : 1:53 pm

A thin, flexible electronic device that sticks onto skin like a temporary tattoo connects the body to the electronic world, researchers report.
Courtesy of J. Rogers

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 technology’s 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. It’s having the wrist itself house the device so it’s 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.

…

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Huh. Who knew we WANTED to be Borg?

[d_r]

2. THE MARK OF THE BEASTTTTT

[FiveGoodMen]

3. And it looks like a flag!

[Odin2005]

4. Cool!! Soon we will be surfing the net with just out minds.

[FiveGoodMen]

6. Soon we will be declared to be the intellectual property of some corporation

And will legally have no rights whatsoever.

[mopinko]

5. can you please make these to do sleep studies?

i need to get another one, and they are so f'ing awful. and likely not that accurate in that fake environment. i guess they do have home units, but they don't like to use them. because... i have no idea.

it would be so great just to slap that little sucker on my wrist, or forehead, or wherever they want to put it, and just go to bed.
and something like this instead of that darth vader helmet cpap machine would be good, too.
we need to hurry up with this stuff or us old boomers are going to drain the treasury with our stuff.

[Systematic Chaos]

7. As somebody who had the mother of all sleep apnea...

...as in breathing cut out over 90 times in the first hour and blood oxygen down to 72%, I can tell you that there is no microchip that will open up your soft palate and help you breathe in place of your machine.

I'm almost to the point where I can sleep without my CPAP now, but it's taken losing over 170 lbs. and I still have a hair over 100 left to lose. If your apnea is not caused by being overweight, count your blessings for the machine because your likely only other option would be a very invasive and uncomfortable surgery with more than a little risk.

:hi: