As explained in a paper published last month in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, researchers have discovered they can make a sensor out of chewing gum and carbon nanotubes.

The team was able to create a sensor that would be able to monitor small body movements, like the rise and fall of your chest as you breathe, or the tiny movement of blood through your body as your heart pumps- all thanks to a half hour chewed piece of gum!

This sensor was created by soaking the chewed up gum in ethanol and imbuing it with carbon nanotubes. The ethanol cleans it up and the tiny flexible pieces of carbon enable it to conduct electricity. All left to do was to hook it up to a conventional monitoring device, which measures the desired trait (like heartbeat or breathing).

The researchers also found that the nanotube-laced gum could record humidity at small levels, like the cloud of moisture in a human breath, which could make it possible for doctors to more effectively monitor patients’ breathing.

What makes these devices better than the ones we already have? Well, they move with the person being monitored without losing their efficacy, their stretchy durability could make them valuable in the world of wearable monitoring devices and they have the added bonus of being only $3 a pop.

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Author:Technology Blog