Nearly everything we use in today's society is "smart" or compatible with some form of highly developed technology. Now, scientists have developed a smart bandage to monitor wounds and check a patient's healing process, according to the Daily Mail.
Members of a research team at the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering have created new tech alongside project leaders Tomoyuki Yokota and Takao Someya.
The team's device differs from its competitors because it is supposedly able to function very little outside electrical power, which usually acts to boost the signal of the bandages readings.
The bandages is actually printed out by the scientists and made of "molecules that bond together to form a polymer chain."
One was printed out and placed on the lungs of a test rat to monitor its thermal readings. The experiment proved successful, as the device was able to measure cyclic changes in lung temperature of just 0.1 degees Celius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) as the rat breathed.
"By printing an array of these sensors it is possible to measure surface temperature over a large area," said Someya. "Because the huge response of the sensor to temperature change allows us to simplify the circuitry, we could print our sensors onto adhesive plasters that could then monitor body temperature."
Someya was also part of a team that created similar technology last year- a smart diaper that could tell caregivers when a child needs changing- according to Tech Times.
