A team of U.K. teenagers has designed a condom that glows in order to detect sexual transmitted infections (STIs) in order to help combat the rising STI rates and ensure safer sex in the future.
The condom, called the "S.T.EYE," is the brainchild of a team comprised of Musaz Nawaz, 13, Daanyaal Ali, 14, and Chirag Shah, 14, of Isaac Newton Academy, who competed in the TeenTech Awards.
A small layer of chemicals on the rubber's surface is being added to the condom. These chemicals attach to bacteria and viruses commonly found in STIs.
When the chemical and STI bacteria and viruses have contact, the reaction causes the molecules on the condom to glow and emit different colors a low fluorescent light, depending on the pathogens present, Science Alert reported.
The condom's designers said that the color changes based on the kind of STI it attaches to. It would glow yellow for herpes, green for Chlamydia, blue for syphilis and purple if it found the human papillomavirus.
"We wanted to create something that makes detecting harmful STIs safer than ever before, so that people can take immediate action in the privacy of their own homes without the invasive procedures at the doctors. We've made sure we're able to give peace of mind to users and make sure people can be even more responsible than ever before," Ali said, The Independent reported.
The S.T.EYE was awarded first prize in the Health Category at the finals of the TeenTech awards, which are intended to promote science, engineering and technology in schools.
The team will be presented their award at Buckingham Palace later in the year with a cash prize of £1,000 (AUD$2,000) for their invention.
Other finalists for the competition were a hair clip with Wi-Fi that changed based on users' clothing and a wrist device connected to a phone to let users call for help when in danger.
