Biomedical engineers are hoping their “electronic mosquito” will eventually make it easier for diabetics to check their blood sugar levels.
The engineers from the University of Calgary have developed a skin patch that uses four tiny needles that “bite” deep enough to draw blood, but not far enough to hit a nerve and cause pain. A sensor in the patch measures sugar levels in the blood. The data can then be sent wirelessly to a monitoring device.
Researchers suggest the patch could even be connected to an alarm to alert people if their blood sugar levels dropped too low.
The electronic bandage is about the size of a deck of cards and can be worn almost anywhere.