Tattoos have been a part of human culture for a very long time. Examples have been found in mummies dating back over 5000 years. And while the popularity of tattoos has grown mainstream, the uses of them are still mostly decorative. But what if your tattoo could help diagnose your health? We’ll explore one future of body art in the U.S. National Science Foundation’s “Discovery Files”.

According to a PEW research survey, the most popular reasons people have for tattooing are to remember or honor someone or something, make a statement about something they believe in, or to improve their appearance.
But historians think some of earliest tattoos may have had a therapeutic purpose.

At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, NSF-supported biomedical engineers are developing a new kind of monitor that can analyze sweat and be applied just like a temporary tattoo.

Current sweat analysis is done in laboratories and needs refrigerator-sized machines to work. However, this new device is graphene-based, nearly transparent, and comes in intimate contact with the skin and consequently, sweat.



This biosensor tattoo acts as an active transistor that changes its properties / conductivity in response to specific analytes present in sweat. Initially focusing on cortisol, the researchers hope to expand the technology to other compounds such as glucose, lactate, estrogen, or inflammation markers among others.

The simple device opens the possibilities for future health research, giving individuals easier access to health tracking and could serve as a tool for discovery of new early indications of diseases.

To hear more science and engineering news, including the researchers making it, subscribe to "NSF's Discovery Files" podcast.