Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, have created a wearable device that can monitor vital health signals without a microchip or battery.
The device is a type of electronic "skin" made of gallium nitride. Gallium nitride can produce an electronic signal in response to strain, according to an Aug. 18 story posted on the university's website.
The device is sensitive enough to track a person's heartbeat and the salt levels in their sweat.
"Chips require a lot of power, but our device could make a system very light without having any chips that are power-hungry," Jeehwan Kim, PhD, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and a co-author of the study, said in the article. "You could put it on your body like a bandage, and paired with a wireless reader on your cellphone, you could wirelessly monitor your pulse, sweat and other biological signals."