Palmreader? Introducing the ‘second skin’ health monitor and messaging system

Palmreading could take on a whole new meaning thanks to a new invention from Japan: an ultra-thin display and monitor that can be stuck directly onto the body.

The sticking plaster-like device is just one millimetre thick and can monitor important health data as well as send and receive messages, including emoji.

Takao Someya, the University of Tokyo professor who developed the device, envisions it as a boon for medical professionals with bedridden or far-flung patients, as well as family living far from their relatives.

“With this, even in home-care settings, you can achieve seamless sharing of medical data with your home doctors, who then would be able to communicate back to their patients,” he said.

Slapped onto the palm or back of a hand, it can flash reminders to patients to take their medicine, or even allow faraway relatives to communicate with them.

“Place displays on your skin, and you would feel as if it is part of your body. When you have messages sent to your hand, you would feel emotional closeness to the sender,” Someya said. “I think a grandfather who receives a message saying ‘I love you’ from his grandchild, they would feel the warmth, too.”