A New Smart Ring Uses Finger Sweat to Track Health - CNET

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Researchers believe they've created the first smart ring to monitor biochemical health measurements like glucose, vitamin C and alcohol levels. Today’s smart rings use tiny built-in sensors, such as photoplethysmography light sensors, to collect biophysical data, including your heart rate and blood oxygen levels. But engineers at the University of California, San Diego, believe they have created the first smart ring that uses finger sweat to track chemical biomarkers. The ring is only a prototype, but it shows the potential for future smart rings to continuously monitor the body on a molecular level instead of relying solely on biophysical data. In a paper published in Nature Communications on July 23, the engineering team reports that the new smart ring uses sweat to continuously monitor up to four of the following biochemical measurements: glucose, ketones, vitamin C, uric acid, lactate and alco