Emma Grey Ellis writes for Wired that MIT researchers are aiming to get a better grasp on public health in cities around the world by analyzing the microbes in sewage systems using a robot dubbed Luigi. Wilson explains that sewage “carries drug metabolites, DNA, even biomarkers for diabetes—and all that data is available in real time.”
Jordan Graham of the Boston Herald writes that researchers from MIT and Microsoft have created temporary, gold leaf tattoos that can control electronic devices. “That means a shiny trackpad on your arm will be able to control a phone or soaring shiny butterflies will be able to play, pause or go to the next song,” explains Graham.
In an article about technologies that can help detect rotten food, Ryan Mandelbaum writes for Popular Science about a sensor developed by MIT researchers “that can detect the chemicals that come off of spoiled meat or rotting fruits.”
Matt McFarland reports for CNN that MIT researchers have developed temporary, gold-leaf tattoos that serve as wearable devices “that add a personal touch of style.” The tattoos can interface with smartphones, store data like movie or bus tickets, or display moods by changing colors, McFarland explains.
MIT researchers have created temporary wearable gold leaf tattoos that can project a user’s mood and allow them to control nearby devices, writes Haniya Rae for Popular Science. “We wanted to build an output display that allowed for a more aesthetically pleasing look,” says graduate student Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao, of the motivation behind the tattoos.
Temporary tattoos created by MIT researchers that allow users to control their electronic devices could one day make remote controls obsolete, writes Thomas Tamblyn for The Huffington Post. Tamblyn explains that the tattoos are made “using gold metal leaf, which means that it’s cheap, skin-friendly and can support a range of different input options.”
Fortune reporter David Morris writes that MIT researchers have developed a technique for producing temporary tattoos that can serve as computer interfaces. The researchers “used gold leaf to construct a range of sensing surfaces for capacitive touch input, conductors for heat-sensitive displays, and antennae for short-range wireless communications.”
In an article for The New Yorker, Frank Rose features “The City of Tomorrow”, a new book by Prof. Carlo Ratti and graduate student Matthew Claudel. Rose writes that the city Claudel and Ratti envision is “a hybrid of the digital and the physical, a ‘triumph of atoms and bits’ that yields a sort of augmented urban reality.”
MIT spinoff C2Sense has developed a chip that gives computers a sense of smell and could be used to detect spoiling food, reports Klint Finley for Wired. The company’s goal is to make “wireless sensor chips so cheap that they could be built into a product’s packaging.”
Hal Hodson writes for New Scientist about Vital-Radio, a new system developed by CSAIL researchers that monitors and records a person’s breathing and heartbeat. Researchers hope the new system could be used to “monitor and improve patient health in hospitals and at home.”
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have designed a miniature wireless track pad that fits on a thumbnail and allows users to control their devices while their hands are busy, reports Liz Stinson for Wired. “The value of NailO lies in pondering more discreet interaction with our gadgets,” Stinson writes.
MIT researchers have developed a new device that turns your thumb into a miniature wireless track pad, reports Tessa Verenson for TIME Magazine. The device could allow users to “answer the phone while cooking, control their cell phones even when they hands are full or discreetly send a text.”
Rachel Fobar writes for Popular Science about a sensor developed by Prof. Timothy Swager’s team that can predict when food will spoil. The sensor could be used in "'smart packaging' that could help provide more accurate information than an expiration date,” writes Fobar.
In this video, MIT researcher Chris Green speaks with BBC Click about the swarm of autonomous drones developed by the MIT SENSEable City Lab that can communicate with one another and could be used to test water quality. Green explains that the drones can be outfitted to “include all sorts of sensors… from water quality to air quality.”
MIT researchers have developed a thumbnail-mounted sensor that can be used as a wireless track pad, reports Marie Szaniszlo for the Boston Herald. The device, “puts Bluetooth and a battery into a package that you can stick to your fingernail and can send data wirelessly to your phone,” Szaniszlo explains.