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Category: wearables

Graphene-powered soft lens could pave the way for smarter glasses, cameras and medical devices

The ability to change focus instantly is something most people take for granted. Every day, our eyes effortlessly switch between reading a book, recognizing a face across the room or watching a bird fly overhead. Replicating that remarkable technological flexibility, however, has proved far more difficult.

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London, led by Professor James Busfield, have taken an important step toward making adaptive lenses smaller, lighter and more practical by developing a transparent graphene-based material that allows soft lenses to change focus electronically without bulky moving parts. The work has eliminated key design constraints limiting electrostatically actuated lenses, opening the door to opportunities for compact medical imaging devices, autofocus cameras and wearable displays.

Published in Advanced Functional Materials, the study demonstrates how ultrathin transparent electrodes made from reduced graphene oxide can be integrated into a soft, electrically driven lens. The result is a compact device capable of changing its focal distance simply by applying a small electric field.

Stretchable antenna keeps wearable health sensors in tune with human health

Wearable health monitors are designed to move with the body. But for many devices, movement creates a problem: The more a person bends, stretches, reaches or runs, the harder it can be for the device to keep a stable wireless connection. Penn State researchers and international collaborators set out to solve that problem by developing a soft, stretchable antenna that can keep working even when pulled in different directions. The work, published in Nature Communications, could help make wearable health monitors more reliable during everyday activity.

“The medical application is the top priority for us, because we see the great potential for this in monitoring human health,” said Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, the James L. Henderson Jr. Memorial Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State and a corresponding author of the study.

Why stretching disrupts antennas The antenna is designed for radio frequency, or RF, communication, the broad category of wireless technology behind Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a variety of sensors, including health monitors. Antennas not only transmit information through this wireless technology, but they can also harvest energy via RF to power a sensor or other parts of a monitoring system. Unlike a conventional rigid antenna, the new design can stretch with fabric or skin-like materials while staying close to the frequency it needs to send or receive signals or power.

Wearable ultrasound patch boosts REM sleep without drugs or surgery

REM sleep disruptions have been associated with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Current approaches to sleep problems, including medication and behavioral therapy, may cause side effects or may not directly address the underlying factors that interfere with REM sleep.

Future Trials for Insomnia, Depression and PTSD

The team plans to conduct larger studies to verify the initial results and evaluate whether NEUSLeeP could help people with PTSD, depression and chronic insomnia. The researchers also see potential uses in home sleep monitoring, neuroscience research and personalized sleep treatments.

Self-repairing, recyclable substrate developed for durable soft sensors

Soft sensors convert movement, temperature and moisture into electrical signals. Repeated bending and friction can cause their metal conductors to peel from the underlying polymer, while physical damage, such as cuts, can disable the device. Commonly used petroleum-derived substrates are also environmentally unfriendly because they are difficult to recycle.

Researchers at the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS CDE) have developed a soft, stretchable substrate that repairs itself, firmly grips metal conductors and can be remolded or broken down after use. It could make wearable patches and electronic skin used in applications such as health monitoring and virtual reality more durable while enabling the recovery of valuable components, thus reducing electronic waste.

The new material, called an intrinsically dynamic biosubstrate (IDBS), was developed by researchers led by assistant professor Zhai Wei from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NUS CDE. Their findings were published in Nature Sustainability on June 19, 2026.

Polar molecules and polymer bridges overcome two key limits in organic electronics

A research team led by Professor Kang Bosoek of the SKKU Advanced Institute of Nano Technology (SAINT), Department of Nano Engineering and Department of Semiconductor Convergence Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University has developed two new molecular design technologies to enhance the electrical conductivity of organic electronic materials. One technology generates a greater number of charge carriers within a polymer, while the other connects transport pathways so that charge can move without interruption.

The findings were published, respectively, in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and Nature Communications. The paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society was also selected as a cover article.

Organic semiconductors are lightweight and flexible materials expected to be used in next-generation displays, wearable electronics and sensors. However, for practical use in electronic devices, their electrical conductivity must be improved—which requires generating a sufficient amount of charge and ensuring that the charge, once generated, can move rapidly through the material. Through two separate studies, the research team addressed these two challenges in a complementary way.

AI, Quantum Computing, Nanotech Convergence Reshapes Innovation

Artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nanotechnology are converging to reshape innovation — and organizations that understand how to harness them could gain a competitive edge.

That’s according to Chuck Brooks, president of Brooks Consulting International and one of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Experts, in a recent piece exploring how the technologies are transforming research and development while accelerating advances in healthcare, cybersecurity, defense and other industries.

Brooks highlights AI’s role in accelerating R&D, nanotechnology’s potential in wearables and sensors, and quantum computing’s ability to solve complex problems beyond the reach of classical computers.

Sorting Results of Unknown SignificanceA Framework for Clinicians Navigating Wearable Data in the AI Era JAMA Network

This Perspective outlines a framework for clinicians navigating physiologic data from wearable devices, referred to as “results of unknown significance,” including the need for universal evidentiary standards and shared language.

Prototype glasses can turn infrared into color vision

The human eye, as good as it is, misses out on so much of the world because it is limited in what it can perceive. It can’t see X-rays, ultraviolet rays or infrared light. While X-ray goggles are still the stuff of science fiction, we may be moving closer to wearable glasses that make infrared light look almost like everyday vision. Scientists at the Beijing Institute of Technology have developed a device that transforms infrared light into a full-color visible image.

Human eyes cannot see infrared because infrared photons don’t have enough energy to trigger our retinas. Night-vision goggles and thermal cameras help, but they tend to show the world in one color, usually grainy green or black-and-white.

What this team has done is develop a technology that converts invisible infrared into multiple colors based on its wavelength and intensity. And because the eye is good at telling colors apart, the new technology allows people to distinguish subtle differences in infrared light much more easily than with traditional night-vision goggles. The researchers describe their work in a paper published in Science Advances.

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