[Weekly_Wearable] Breakthrough Tech : 2nd Week of August 2025
“Skin-Like Wrist Patch Tracks Blood Pressure 24/7 — Even While You Walk or Work Out”
A research team from Seoul National University’s Wearable Soft Electronics Lab, led by Professor Seung-Hwan Ko, has developed a skin-attachable, patch-type wearable device capable of real-time blood pressure monitoring. This innovation addresses the key limitations of traditional cuff-based measurement—discomfort during inflation, one-time readings, and difficulty in continuous daily use.
How It Works
The device measures the time delay between electrical heart signals (ECG) and mechanical pulse signals as they reach the wrist.
When blood pressure rises, blood flow speed increases, shortening this delay; when it drops, the delay lengthens.
To detect the skin’s tiny movements, the team used liquid-metal-based electronics with elasticity similar to human skin, created using laser sintering to pattern conductive liquid-metal particles into precise circuits.
Performance & Potential
The patch demonstrated over 700% stretchability and durability through more than 10,000 stretching cycles.
It accurately detected rapid blood pressure changes before and after exercise, outperforming conventional cuffs in responsiveness.
This makes it ideal for continuous daily monitoring, especially for people with hypertension—often called the “silent killer.”
The technology could be integrated into smartwatches, medical patches, or smart clothing, paving the way for more advanced smart healthcare solutions.
For more details, check out the original article.
“Holding Your Breath While Saying ‘Pa’—How the Brain Orchestrates the Rhythm of Speech”
A new study published in Scientific Reports explores how the brain coordinates different phases of speech during prolonged vocalization, using the example of repeatedly saying the syllable “pa” without pausing to breathe. Researchers equipped 19 healthy participants with high-density EEG, respiratory muscle EMG, and pressure sensors, then asked them to produce continuous “pa” utterances until they reached their breath limit. This allowed the team to precisely track respiratory pressure, muscle activation, and spatiotemporal patterns of brain activity during extended speech production.
The analysis revealed that each phonation phase transition (P1–P4) was marked by distinct synchronization/desynchronization patterns across EEG frequency bands (delta, theta, low/high alpha), with specific brain regions engaged at each stage:
P1 (Speech onset): Activation in the frontal lobe and anterior cingulate cortex, indicating preparatory motor control.
P2–P3: Complex interactions between the primary motor cortex, premotor areas, thalamus, and striatum—linking cortical and subcortical speech control networks.
P4 (Final stage): Significant involvement of the cerebellum, fine-tuning motor output as breath capacity was exhausted.
Interestingly, delta rhythms were particularly prominent in the temporal and medial brain structures, suggesting a role in maintaining perceptual stability and preventing articulation drift during repetitive speech.
The study provides fresh insight into how the brain dynamically synchronizes breathing, phonation, and sensory feedback during continuous speech. These findings could inform future developments in brain–speech interfaces, biofeedback therapy for respiratory or speech disorders, and rehabilitation for patients with stroke or Parkinson’s disease.
For more details, check out the original article.
“A Sheet of Paper That Could Transform Farming: Turning Plants into Smart Sensors”
Technowize recently highlighted the rise of paper-based plant wearable devices, an innovation that is attracting attention for its eco-friendly, low-cost, and biodegradable nature. Designed for precision agriculture, these devices enable real-time, on-site monitoring of plant health and environmental conditions, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional sensor technologies.
A notable example comes from a research team at UNICAMP in Brazil, who developed a wearable sensor made from paper using Laser-Scribed Graphene (LSG) technology. This allows for the creation of high-performance electrode patterns on paper, enabling the detection of the herbicide paraquat with high sensitivity — as low as 0.082 μmol/L. The device is flexible enough to endure repeated bending, and when paired with a smartphone interface, it can be attached directly to plants in the field for quick, easy herbicide detection.
In parallel, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences are broadening the scope of plant wearables, exploring devices that can measure growth patterns, leaf-surface temperature and humidity, gas emissions, and plant electrophysiological signals in real time. Their findings point toward strong potential for integration into next-generation precision farming and environmental monitoring systems.
For more details, check out the original article.
“How Wearables and Computer Vision Reveal the Hidden Patterns of Our Health and Behaviour”
Nature’s Scientific Data journal is currently running a collection titled “Wearable and Computer Vision Data for Health and Behaviour Research”, focusing on how wearable devices and non-contact sensing technologies can be used to capture real-world, real-time data for health, behaviour, and environmental monitoring.
Unlike traditional research articles, the Data Descriptors in this collection prioritize the publication of raw, reusable datasets rather than hypothesis-driven analysis. Submissions must meet strict quality, transparency, and reusability criteria, ensuring that datasets can be readily integrated into future studies.
The scope includes data from consumer-grade devices to high-precision research sensors, covering a wide range of physiological and behavioural signals such as 3D position coordinates, joint angles, speed, acceleration, posture, gait metrics, EMG, EEG, and ECG.
Aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG3: Good Health & Well-being, SDG9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure), the collection aims to serve as a cross-disciplinary data-sharing platform that accelerates collaboration between health sciences, engineering, AI, and behavioural research.
The call for submissions is open until May 8, 2026. For studies involving human participants, authors must include the Human Data Checklist, which is an essential part of the peer review process.
For more details, check out the original article.
“When Skincare Meets Electronics: The Dawn of Ultra-Thin, Invisible Electrodes”
A research team at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, has developed an ultra-thin conductive film—only about 3 nanometers thick—that is both transparent and flexible, yet conducts electricity as efficiently as metal. The key ingredient? Hyaluronic acid, a biocompatible material widely used in skincare products.
The researchers used a “tethered dopant templating” method, anchoring the dopant (hyaluronic acid) directly onto a gold surface to guide electrochemical polymerization. This process produces uniform, ultra-thin 2D PEDOT films that can be manufactured quickly, repeatedly, and with high conductivity.
The material’s combination of optical transparency and mechanical flexibility makes it ideal for:
Touchscreens in smartphones and tablets
Wearable medical sensors
Skin-mounted biosensors for diagnostics and continuous health monitoring
Because hyaluronic acid is biocompatible, it reduces the risk of skin irritation and enables accurate measurement of delicate bio-signals, making it promising for diagnostic patches and even implantable devices.
Importantly, this method could replace brittle indium tin oxide (ITO) in transparent electrodes, offering better scalability and cost-efficiency for mass production. Future research will focus on:
Durability testing against sweat, UV light, and repeated bending
Integration into flexible displays and AR/VR devices
Clinical safety and long-term stability evaluations
This work represents a fusion of skincare chemistry and advanced electronics, potentially redefining the next generation of invisible, skin-friendly, and highly conductive wearable tech.
For more details, check out the original article.
Steps Forward: A Pakistani Student Creates Smart Shoes for the Blind
Shanja Munir, a young Pakistani talent, has developed a unique shoe that promises to revolutionize the lives of the visually impaired. Created as part of a university project by an information technology major, these "smart shoes" are more than just shoes; they are advanced assistive devices that help users walk safely.
The shoe's core feature lies in its obstacle detection system. A sensor embedded in the shoe instantly detects obstacles within 200cm of the front and transmits this information to a motor attached to the shoe, which then vibrates to alert the wearer. This groundbreaking technology allows the visually impaired to navigate their surroundings safely and without the aid of a cane. Shanja believes these shoes will empower them with greater independence and freedom of movement.
Currently, the estimated production cost for each pair of these shoes is approximately 10,000 to 12,000 Pakistani rupees (approximately KRW 45,000 to 55,000). However, Shanja says that if specialized materials are used and mass production is successful, this cost can be significantly reduced. She is seeking investors to commercialize this innovative idea so that it can benefit a wider audience.
Shanja Munir's case exemplifies the passion and creativity of young Pakistanis who seek to solve social problems through technology. Having previously achieved outstanding results in various international competitions, the innovative efforts of Pakistani youth are expected to continue.
For more details, check out the original article.
Innovative Design of Nanocomposites Opens New Horizons for Next-Generation Energy Storage Technology
Recently published scientific research has attracted significant attention by proposing a novel design method for developing next-generation energy storage devices using nanocomposites. This research focused on maximizing the electrochemical performance of composites by precisely combining nanoparticles and a polymer matrix. Specifically, the innovative design optimizes the interaction between the nanoparticle microstructure and the polymer matrix, simultaneously enhancing the structural stability and conductivity of the composite.
This design significantly overcomes the limitations of existing energy storage devices, resulting in dramatic improvements in device efficiency and durability. The researchers anticipate that this technology will lead to innovations in energy storage solutions in a variety of applications, including electric vehicle batteries, portable electronic devices, and renewable energy systems. In particular, its high performance and long-term stability are expected to be a significant milestone in the advancement of sustainable energy technologies.
This research represents a prime example of the convergence of materials science and energy engineering, demonstrating that precise structural control of composite materials can maximize the performance of energy storage devices. Furthermore, in a modern society that demands eco-friendly and efficient energy management, this innovative nanocomposite material design holds great significance in that it presents new possibilities for the future energy industry and lays the technological foundation for sustainable development.
For more details, check out the original article.