Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Brown University, and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, have developed an autonomous programmable computer in the form of an elastic fiber, which could monitor health conditions and physical activity, alerting the wearer to potential health risks in real time. Clothing containing the fiber computer was comfortable and machine washable, and the fibers were nearly imperceptible to the wearer, the researchers report. “Our bodies broadcast gigabytes of data through the skin every second in the form of heat, sound, biochemicals, electrical potentials, and light, all of which carry information about our activities, emotions, and health. Wouldn’t it be great if we could teach clothes to capture, analyze, store, and communicate this important information in the form of valuable health and activity insights?” says Yoel Fink, senior author of a paper on the research and principal investigator in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics and the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT.
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