Category: wearable

First Wearable To Analyze Your Saliva (compliments to Ray Hammond on his future trends!)

Your spit says a lot about your health, and now there’s wearable technology being tested to track it.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have demonstrated a mouth guard with electronic sensors that can detect concentrations of certain chemicals in saliva. Such a gadget could be useful to soldiers, pilots, athletes, and even hospital patients.

The group recently revealed a new sensor that can detect the concentration of uric acid—an elevated concentration of uric acid in the blood and urine has been associated with various metabolic disorders.

This is the second sensor the group has made for the mouth guard. Last year, it showed that it was possible to measure lactate—elevated concentrations of which have been associated with muscle fatigue, among other things.

The device wirelessly transmits the information it collects to a smartphone or computer via Bluetooth Low Energy, a technology that consumes much less power than classic Bluetooth.