There are a lot of bad tattoos in this world. I don’t get the thinking that makes people want to have them in the first place, nor why the fad has gone on as long as it has, but that’s for another day I guess. The biotech firm Draper Laboratories in Cambridge, MA has announced that they’ve developed an ink that contains nanoparticles which can sense blood glucose levels and change color to indicate the blood sugar level of a person with diabetes. The particles can be embedded in the skin like a tattoo, making it significantly easier for diabetics to monitor their blood sugar and eliminating the need for the irritating needle-pokes they must do with existing monitors. It will probably be a good ten years or so before this could actually be turned into a marketable product, due to the long time frames for medical device research and testing, but a great application of nanotech.

Of course, if you’re going to get a nanotattoo, you’ll need to make sure you don’t put it on the arm with the nanotube bionic muscles. Scientists at the University of Texas in Dallas have published their results with work on developing artificial muscles using carbon nanotubes pulled into ribbons and then twisted into bundles. When stimulated by electricity, the bundles can expand and contract like muscle tissue. There have been other efforts to make artificial muscles out of carbon nanotubes and silicon polymers previously, but these particular experiments show much greater elasticity and hardness, making the material a better candidate for use in prosthetics.

One of the major concerns as nanotechnology continues to be applied to biology and medicine is the lack of understanding about possible interactions between nano-sized objects and living tissue. Much of what is known about toxicity and long-term side effects of many substances is simply not applicable at the sub-molecular level. Much attention in the biomedical world is being given to the use of nanoparticles as drug-delivery devices particularly as a way to more effectively target cancer cells with chemo and radioactive medications without harming healthy surrounding tissue. Researchers at University of California in San Diego have developed a silicon nanoparticle that glows temporarily and then biodegrades harmlessly after a few days. These particles, combined with targeted chemotherapeutic medication, can attach themselves to tumors and cancerous cells, allowing for easier detection by doctors, without some of the lasting harmful effects of other luminescent chemicals currently in use.