Many athletes sport tattoos these days, and other than looking good (or stupid depending on your point of view) that “art” only goes skin deep and truly doesn’t do much. However, a new study conducted by a team led by the University of California, San Diego’s Prof. Joseph Wang has created a flexible electrochemical biosensor that looks much like a “tat.”
Unlike other tattoos that merely are ink, this one is actually a flexible electrochemical biosensor, and when applied to the skin the sensor can be used to continuously measure lactate levels in the athlete’s sweat. It can thus tell when an athlete is about to “hit the wall.”
That’s a lot more than most tattoos can do, and best of all it can be removed post-workout or game.