Temporary tattoos were all the rage when we were kids, and now they could be put to even better use keeping drunk drivers off the road.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have invented a disposable temporary tattoo with an attached electronic reader that can measure a person’s blood alcohol level through their sweat. While breathalyzers can give false positives and blood tests aren’t practical for on-the-spot checks, these tattoos could help speed up DUI checkpoints or allow individuals to test themselves at the end of the night.
The tattoos are slightly more complicated than the Disney princesses and superheroes you know and love. The UCSD tattoo is crafted with silver and silver chloride electrodes. When connected to electricity, the electrodes produce an electrical current to release a drug into the skin, causing the wearer to sweat. When sweat hits the skin’s surface, sensors in the tattoo check the alcohol concentration and the results are sent from the sensors to a mobile device via Bluetooth.
In 2015, the Chicago Police Department made 3,315 DUI arrests. Between 2003 and 2012, 3,866 people were killed in crashes involving a drunk driver in Illinois. These temporary tattoos could eventually provide a quicker, easier and less invasive way to lower those stats.