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SALT LAKE CITY -- It seems the next wave of seemless integration, following suit with the body-phone tattoo, will continue to take place on our own bodies.
Mike McAlpine of Princeton University has led the charge in creating a tattoo designed to fit on a human tooth. Far from being an outrageous fashion statement, this tattoo will be capable of predicting illness by analyzing the bacteria on your breath.
The tattoo contains sensors made of graphene, a super-sensitive layer of carbon that is only as thick as a single atom. McAlpine and his team have determined that the sensors can detect bacteria individually with the help of peptides constructs -- short sequences of amino acids -- on the surface of the graphene. The graphene acts as a venus fly trap of sorts, snatching up individual bacteria molecules as they pass through your mouth.
#tooth
McAlpine believes the technology could see military implications, such as allowing soldiers to be diagnosed with bacterial infections. He also anticipates the technology being used in hospitals on IV bags, shower curtains, and other potentially infectious surfaces.
The technology is still far from the consumer level. McAlpine admits that his team still has quite a lot of work to do; the most prominent existing problem is shrinking the technology down to a size that would allow it to conform to a regular human tooth. Still, McAlpine and his team are planning to license and commercialize the graphene sensors.
