Published Wednesday by the American Chemical Society (ACS), the study from Korean researchers developed a multicoloured temporary tattoo that reacts to the presence of GHB, a compound described as “commonly associated with drug-facilitated sexual assault.”
According to the study, the chemicals in the tattoo can detect concentrations of GHB in beer, liquor or coffee, changing colour from yellow to red in order to alert the wearer that their beverage may have been spiked.
“In practice, a wearer could dip a finger into a beverage, touch the drop to the sticker and see the result almost immediately,” the release reads.
The newly developed tattoos not only allow the users to test their drinks discreetly, but also act far faster than some older tests, delivering results in less than a second, rather than minutes.
Researchers also say the results last for up to a month, which can help preserve evidence of suspected tampering.
Also direct link to ACS
Thanks for telling me what I said. I keep learning new things
I literally review research in my day job. I’ve never had someone present a study and say “we want to investigate this idea that’s waning in popularity instead of being on the frontier of science”
Then you should know that science advances mostly in small steps instead of big ones? And that additional data helps supporting other ideas, so that other researcher can build on those?
From a quick search, wearable tattoos for drug testing are a pretty recent development. And often it’s not only about the what, but especially in an early field about the how. Other researcher can look into this and get ideas for how to incorporate the fundamentals for other drug testing compounds.
Is this contribution going to save the world or stop all date rape drugging? No.