Chewing Gum Helps Create New Stretchy, Wearable Sensor

The answer to a bendable, flexible body sensor may be in your mouth. A new stretchy sensor has been developed with the help of chewing gum and carbon nanotubes. While many metal wearable sensors are sensitive, they could stop working if twisted or bent. The new type of sensor can monitor slight movements such as bending a finger or turning your head, with high sensitivity even when strained up to 530 percent, researchers from the University of Manitoba in Canada reported in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

According to a press release from the American Chemical Society, the sensor could also be used to monitor breathing by sensing changes in humidity when water vapor is released with each exhale.

To create the flexible sensor, scientists chewed a piece of Doublemint gum for 30 minutes, and let it sit overnight after bathing it with ethanol. The sensing material, a carbon nanotubes solution, was added and the material was stretched and creased to line up properly.

Check out a video of the wearable sensor here: