Tiny Alcohol Monitor Sits Just Beneath the Skin

The alcohol-detecting chip with a penny for comparison. (Credit: David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering) A tiny chip implanted just under the skin could be the Breathalyzer of the future. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego reported today that they had created a tiny chip that can read levels of alcohol in the body and relay that information to a smartwatch. It could be an alternative to traditional means of detecting whether someone has been drinking, and offers users the ability to monitor their blood-alcohol levels in real-time. The chip, which hasn't been tested in humans yet, runs on just 970 nanowatts of power and measures about a cubic millimeter in size; small enough, the researchers say, to sit comfortably under the first layer of skin. It's powered by a smartwatch or external patch, meaning it doesn't need a battery, and relies on a coating of ...