Charles Q. Choi imagines a world where wireless flexible electronics could be applied like temporary tattoos and allow people to communicate without talking:
When people think about talking, their throat muscles move even if they do not speak, a phenomenon known as subvocalization. Electronic tattoos placed on the throat could therefore behave as subvocal microphones through which people could communicate silently and wirelessly. “We’ve demonstrated our sensors can pick up the electrical signals of muscle movements in the throat so that people can communicate just with thought,” [electrical engineer Todd Coleman] says.
Alan Boyle highlights other possibilities:
The tattoos could have more down-to-earth applications in the medical field: In the future, such sensors could be used to monitor a newborn’s brain for any signs of abnormality, or an older person’s brain for signs of cognitive impairment. “As we age, our ability to respond, or to modulate our attention to different new types of inputs, will start to slow down,” Coleman said in a video interview distributed by AAAS. “Imagine if we could … mount a sticker to the forehead that can provide quantitative outputs — measurements of that.”
(Image courtesy of UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering)
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