change color | Outside The Lines

Red means stop and green means go. This has been true for some time and is widely accepted, probably because traffic signals reinforce this behavior on a daily basis. Now these colors are being used to determine if a human wound is healing or not. SMART bandages turn green when oxygen is flowing to wounds and red if oxygen is low.

This is important technology because wounds need sufficient amounts of oxygen to fully heal. However, until now, most bandages actually restrict oxygen flow and hide the healing process, leaving wounds susceptible to unseen complications. With this new “paint-on” translucent bandage, an individual and his or her physician can easily monitor the wound’s healing process.

The creator of the bandage, Conor L. Evans, an assistance professor at Massachusetts General Hospital (at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine) and Harvard Medical School, considers the color changing technology to be a sort of mapping system. For right now, the SMART bandage maps “a wound’s tissue oxygenation concentration.” But this is only part of the bandage’s purpose.

SMART is an acronym for Sensing, Monitoring and Release of Therapeutics. Right now, sensing and monitoring are available thanks to easy-to-follow color changing technology; in the future, the bandage may be capable of “automatically [delivering] drugs at the wound site.”

The transparent liquid bandage displays a quantitative, oxygenation-sensitive colormap that can be easily acquired using a simple camera or smartphone. Image: Li/Wellman Center for Photomedicine

For now, the bandage uses a viscous liquid that includes phosphors. Phosphors are in many glow-in-the-dark products because they “absorb light and then emit it via a process known as phosphorescence,” explains rdmag.com. This liquid is painted on the first wound. In conjunction with a different top coat, it creates an air-tight sealant that protects the wound while monitoring airflow. Then, a camera is used to activate the phosphor and capture a reading of current oxygen levels (i.e. a map of reds and greens) throughout the wound. Any camera can trigger this process—even a smartphone.

There is no telling when or if color changing bandages will be sold over-the-counter. The research for SMART bandages has been driven by an admirable goal: to help wounded soldiers. SMART bandages may soon go into field testing in efforts to “significantly improve the success of surgeries to restore limbs and physical functions.”

On a large scale, the sensing and monitoring bandage may be the start of precise wound healing. On a small scale, it is pretty cool that a translucent bandage may change color, and in effect, help humans heal.

Read more Segmation blog posts about art and color:

Red Artwork is Worth Fortunes

Cutting Edge Art Blog Inspired by Current Events

The Color Red and its Many Meanings

Be an Artist in 2 minutes with Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

Segmation

Join us on FacebookSegPlay® Mobile iTunes now available for iPhone and iPad

www.segmation.com

Color-changing products have been mesmerizing consumers for years. When did you receive your first mood-ring or hologram trading card? While holograms reflect light to reveal different colors and images, mood-rings change hues based on a person’s body heat. Now, a new color-changing product is in the works but it does not rely on light or body heat in order to change. Instead, it changes based on touch.

Scientists at the University of California have found that when gold nanoparticles are strung together, the collective color is blue. Then, when these strands break apart, they continue to change colors into purple and red. The final color is determined on how much stress is put on the gold. If it is lightly touched, it will change to purple; when it is completely broken apart it turns red.

As of right now, there is much excitement about using these gold nanoparticles in paint, tape or bandages so that color-changing properties can be used to indicate how much stress has been applied to a particular area. The inventors envision this being used in products like vehicle crash-test dummies, performance sports equipment (such as baseball bats) and beds. When used in these capacities, the color-changing product may indicate where the greatest amount of impact is concentrated.

While a number of comments on The Atlantic Magazine article suggest the color-changing properties of gold is not a new phenomenon, the technology to make it marketable might be. Because the concentration of gold is low, this could become an affordable, household product. However, scientists are also looking at the less expensive alternative silver as a possible composite. Like gold, when silver is broken down it changes colors but because it lets more light in, the nanoparticles will change from blue to green to yellow.

This new discovery may be available to the public soon. Right now, a patent is pending for the University of California scientists. Before long, gold nanoparticles may be in our tape, paint and bandages – and for good reason too. It will be help us indicate where impact has been made by changing its color with a simple touch.

Read more Segmation blog posts about art and science:

Art Illuminates Science

Extracting Art from Science

Art and Science – A Genius Combination

Be an Artist in 2 minutes with Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

Segmation

Join us on FacebookSegPlay® Mobile iTunes now available for iPhone and iPad