Can we make tattoos both beautiful and functional? Nanotechnologist Carson Bruns shares his work creating high-tech tattoos that react to their environment — like color-changing ink that can tell you when you're getting a sunburn — and shows exciting ways they can deliver real-time information about our health.
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(It’s gonna take far more than a tatoo)
Great presentation wasn’t expecting much.
The Pyramids are older than you know.
I guess a big question is how stable are those ink beads over the decades they’ll spend in your body.
But cool stuff nonetheless!
This was an amazing talk, it awakens so many thoughts. Crazy!
Interesting, but replacing a pacemaker battery is very simple medical technology today and takes less time than getting a tattoo on your arm, face, leg etc…
A tattoo can cause also many medical issues, especially when the person making the tattoo doesn’t really know what he or she is doing.
Some of those issues are already mentioned below.
Got another tattoo within 20 min the other day. Also, sure there are health concerns….the percentage is really low though. Every day of your life you do at least 10 things that are more dangerous than getting a tattoo.
And speaking of medical devices….have you seen John Oliver’s newest video on medical technology? It’s really interesting, illuminating and entertaining.
YAAAAAS and imagine microcapsules that have proteins on them that lets the white cells know not to break them down! No more fading or contamination!
I imagine this would be a way to have something more creative & personal whilst dealing with chronic issues that these tattoos would help with.
With proper research, testing & implementation, I would love to see this as an option.
I am ready to spend money on UV changing tattoos!!! This would be great in the workforce! Won’t have to cover my tattoos indoors! Share the recipe, my dude
A tattoo that tells when your blood sugar too high
That’s actually a sensible idea, if it can be done. Blood sugar in any part of the body remains unaffected by external sources, so it only requires a tiny dot. At the same time, any increase in detection time can have huge health benefits. Still, I suspect that a readout on the smartphone, connected to an implanted detector or insulin pump, will be better. Put an alarm on it, and you’re set. After all, people are never far away from their phones, these days, and I’m sure it’ll just get more extreme in the future. We’ll probably have implanted headphones, before long.
Better suggestion than any in the video, though.
The only problem is how can a dye encapsuled in a protected shell “detect” sugar from blood if it wont get a direct contact, I mean the ink is not in the blood vessel right? But if this can be done my God what a technological breakthrough and huge help for people battling diabetes.
It’s amazing no doubt. But look like the audience wasn’t ready for it?
Burned skin…. Ink on blood… Pain and blood… Healthy?
Is this a repost, I swear I’ve seen this before?
why cant they just make wireless charging pacemakers
I would argue that we have changed tattooing efficiency quite a bit.
This was a great talk, extremely innovative. I was immediately thinking about adding dense material for potential “armor” or a insulator material for potential regulation of the human body in extreme temperatures these could be tattooed into the skin and provide more functionality than a UV sensor. Thiugh the idea of adding data through this is really cool, I see a much more functional approach.
Short answer: No.
Brilliant. And so good looking too.