'Electronic Skin' Grafts Gadgets to Body

By: Nina Sen, Life's Little Mysteries Contributor

Date: 16 August 2011 Time: 09:45 AM ET

CREDIT: J. Rogers, University of Illinois

This photo showing what looks like a temporary tattoo made of ultra-thin electronics that are placed directly on the skin. Known as epidermal electronics, they can be applied in a similar way to a temporary tattoo: you simply place it on your skin and rub it on with water. The devices can even be hidden under actual temporary tattoos to keep the electronics concealed. John Rogers with other scientists at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign came up with a form of electronic conductors that almost precisely match the properties of skin allowing it to stretch and bend with movement . These 'tattoos' could be used to monitor brain activity without bulky equipment, or perhaps computers that operate via the subtlest voice commands or body movement.

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