At this point in the wearable gadget market, we know about the possibilities! There are smart glasses, smartwatches, and smart bracelets. We know about wristbands worn on your arm working side by side with your smart device, such as the Galaxy Gear or the Pebble Smartwatch. We also know about embedded biomechanical ‘health-monitoring tattoo’s used by cyborgs (a more taboo method of being “connected”), where tiny electric signals can tell you or your doctor about how your organs are functioning. True, things are getting pretty “involved”. This time around, we’ve got the next evolutionary wearable with even more intuition. Researchers have developed a new kind of smart patch for health. This one is worn on the wrist, uses nano technology, detects symptoms of diseases, and can even deliver drugs. Due to this, I bet we hear less and less about the original alternative of bulky hardware, and more about these less intrusive, bio-integrated systems.

 
A study, carried out in South Korea and published by Nature Technology, outlines this latest development of wearable “bio-mechanical systems”. Dae-Hyeong Kim from Seoul National University, as well as his research team, developed this patch. The device is flexible, adhesive, and made of layered nanomaterials. At only 1mm thick, the comfortable hydrocolloid patch is worn on the wrist; measuring around 2-inches in its rectangular size. This particular type of silicon nanoparticles is often used in flexible electronics due to their ability to easily pick up the stretch and bend of human skin. Therefore, the silicon membranes convert the skin’s natural motion into small electrical signals. Stored as signals in gold nanoparticles, they are shown as data and used to pick up and detect tremors in people; essentially ‘picking up’ on early on sights of Parkinson’s, as well as epileptic seizures.

 
The magic happens once the movements become detected by the skin’s signals. Very importantly, the patches are heat activated. So, when the body’s temperature rises, the drug delivery increases. However, the small heaters in the patches contain temperature sensors to block them from overheating human skin. Stephanie Lacour, engineer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, says “The novelty is really in the integration of the memory device”. Once connected to a power source or data transmitter, it’s in working mode.

 
A perfect example is an individual with Parkinson’s disease suffering from muscle tremors. Thanks to the memory integration facet of the patch, tremors are picked up and the memory system knows if a higher dose of medicine is needed. The patch currently relies on an external power source (however it could be powered by a battery worn on the wrist next to it); and we shouldn’t expect this extent of wearable patch technology to be available for at least five or so years. Once it does hit the market, if affordable, I hope we can expect consumers to take hold of their own health by wearing something like this.