S.Korea develops nanotech tattoo as health monitoring device

South Koreans may soon be able to carry a device inside their own bodies in the form of a bespoke tattoo that automatically alerts them to potential health
problems, if a science team’s project bears fruit.
Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in the city of Daejeon southwest of Seoul have developed an electronic tattoo ink made of liquid metal and carbon nanotubes that functions as a bioelectrode.
Hooked up to an electrocardiogram (ECG) device or other biosensor, it can send a readout of a patient’s heart rate and other vital signs such glucose and lactate to a monitor.
“In the future, what we hope to do is connect a wireless chip integrated with this ink, so that we can communicate, or we can send signal back and forth between our body to an external device,” said project leader Steve Park, a materials science and engineering professor.
Such monitors could in theory be located anywhere, including in patients’ homes.