This transparent “patch” with tiny specks of gold in the picture above is made of graphene and is not just another fashion accessory or temporary tattoo. This patch is intended to monitor level of sugar in the blood and enter the body diabetic medications.
The prototype patch was developed by Professor Seoul national University Tae-Hyeong Kim and his team of researchers. It is equipped with sensors that collect information about the temperature of the human body, as well as chemical/pH content of sweat. It then sends the collected information on a special application for the smartphone. If the system determines that, according to the chemical composition of your sweat, you need health care tools, the application allows the patch command to enter in the body with the necessary medication (the current version of the patch introduces Metformin for diabetes of the 2nd type). Enter medicine is due to the many existing in the band-aid of microscopic needles.
In the future this patch will be able to save someone’s life. However, the current version is far from the final medical product. In the current version of the prototype will activate the needle only when the surrounding temperature rises to 40 degrees. In addition, the patch unfortunately does not possess the capability to contain sufficient for an adult person the number of Metformin. The researchers say that they would try to find a way to solve these problems without the need to increase the area of the patch.