After an incredibly successful Indiegogo campaign earlier this year, Hapbee Technologies announced the e-commerce launch of its consumer wellness product the Hapbee wearable band.

Read more´: Circular launches a wellness smart ring that tracks your activity, heart rate and monitors your sleep

Hapbee's proactive wearable lets you choose how you feel using proprietary ultra-low frequency technology backed by 15 years of research and development with partner EMulate Therapeutics. The Hapbee band delivers signals to the body that the brain recognizes - without depending on substance ingestion.

Members wear Hapbee (pronounced: Happy) around their head or neck, sync it with the supported app (IOS and Android accessible) and hit play for the desired sensation (signal) of their choice, says a press release.

Hapbee currently offers six unique signals, including:

• Alert - Like a cup of coffee in the morning, get an energy boost to your day
• Happy - Instead of pouring a drink, get your buzz on, feel loose and let go
• Calm - Manage stress and find that perfect Zen mode
• Relax - Take it easy, settle back, and let the tension ease away
• Focus - Keeps you tuned in while accomplishing your goals and "to-do's"
• Sleepy - An alternative way to put your mind to rest and wind down after the day

The Company implemented blinded studies with closed-beta testers (individuals who experienced 3 or more plays of each signal for 30 minutes or more) with a 100 percent identification success rate between Hapbee signals and a no-signal sham. Studies also showed new users could feel Hapbee’s signals 75 percent of the time, while onboarded users felt them 100 percent of the time, the learning curve to recognizing sensations.

“The feedback from our early adopters and supporters demonstrated the extensive need for this technology in the consumer marketplace,” states Hapbee CEO Scott Donnell. “Our ultimate goal is to create more awareness around the importance of mental fitness for everyone. We are thrilled that we can now share the Hapbee experience with more people and lead the way in this revolutionary wearable wellness space.”

Hapbee is available for purchase at hapbee.com. The Company is currently in the research and development phases of creating future signals and plans to roll these out in 2021.

Read more: Moodbeam: The World’s First Wearable that Helps You Understand Your Mood

Hapbee Technologies is a wellness technology company specializing in ultra-low frequencies with proprietary patented technology that records small magnetic fields from solvent substances. The wearable Hapbee band delivers safe, comfortable, sensation 'signals' to the body at the click of a button, enabling you to 'choose how you feel'. At its initial launch, Hapbee provides the signals: Alert, Calm, Happy, Relaxed, Sleepy or Focused.

Researchers have developed artificial intelligence technology that brings together imaging, processing, machine learning and memory in one electronic chip, powered by light.

Read more: Will Combined Power of 5G and Artificial Intelligence Change Tech Innovations of Tomorrow?

The prototype shrinks artificial intelligence technology by imitating the way that the human brain processes visual information.

The nanoscale advance combines the core software needed to drive artificial intelligence with image-capturing hardware in a single electronic device, reports RMIT.

With further development, the light-driven prototype could enable smarter and smaller autonomous technologies like drones and robotics, plus smart wearables and bionic implants like artificial retinas.

The study, from an international team of Australian, American and Chinese researchers led by RMIT University, is published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Lead researcher Associate Professor Sumeet Walia, from RMIT, said the prototype delivered brain-like functionality in one powerful device.

“Our new technology radically boosts efficiency and accuracy by bringing multiple components and functionalities into a single platform,” Walia said.

“It’s getting us closer to an all-in-one AI device inspired by nature’s greatest computing innovation – the human brain.

“Our aim is to replicate a core feature of how the brain learns, through imprinting vision as memory.

“The prototype we’ve developed is a major leap forward towards neurorobotics, better technologies for human-machine interaction and scalable bionic systems.”

Total package: advancing AI

Typically, artificial intelligence relies heavily on software and off-site data processing.

The new prototype aims to integrate electronic hardware and intelligence together, for fast on-site decisions.

“Imagine a dashcam in a car that’s integrated with our neuro-inspired hardware – this means it can recognize lights, signs, objects and make instant decisions, without having to connect to the internet,” Walia, who co-leads the Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group at RMIT, said.

“By bringing it all together into one chip, we can deliver unprecedented levels of efficiency and speed in autonomous and AI-driven decision-making.”

The technology builds on an earlier prototype chip from the RMIT team, which used light to create and modify memories.

New built-in features mean the chip can now capture and automatically enhance images, classify numbers, and be trained to recognize patterns and images with an accuracy rate of over 90%.

The device is also readily compatible with existing electronics and silicon technologies, for effortless future integration.

Seeing the light: how the tech works

The prototype is inspired by optogenetics, an emerging tool in biotechnology that allows scientists to delve into the body’s electrical system with great precision and use light to manipulate neurons.

The AI chip is based on an ultra-thin material – black phosphorous - that changes electrical resistance in response to different wavelengths of light.

The different functionalities such as imaging or memory storage are achieved by shining different colors of light on the chip.

Study lead author Dr. Taimur Ahmed, from RMIT, said light-based computing was faster, more accurate and required far less energy than existing technologies.

Read more: How FDA is Backing the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Telemedicine

“By packing so much core functionality into one compact nanoscale device, we can broaden the horizons for machine learning and AI to be integrated into smaller applications,” Ahmed said.

“Using our chip with artificial retinas, for example, would enable scientists to miniaturize that emerging technology and improve accuracy of the bionic eye.

“Our prototype is a significant advance towards the ultimate in electronics: a brain-on-a-chip that can learn from its environment just like we do.”

Signify Health, a leading provider of technology-enabled healthcare solutions designed to keep people healthy and happy at home, has acquired PatientBlox, a technology company with deep expertise in applying distributed ledger technology in healthcare. The acquisition accelerates Signify's prospective provider payment capabilities for episodes of care, supporting the company's commitment to advance value-based care through novel payment and risk arrangements.

Read more: Medtronic Buys Smart Insulin Pen Company Companion Medical

“We are excited to enhance our leading value-based payment platform with this first-of-its-kind prospective capability and the greater predictability and accountability that come with it,” said Signify CEO Kyle Armbrester. “We are already powering the nation's most innovative payment programs, and this capability opens up significant opportunities to create and support new programs and market entrants.”

As part of the acquisition, Signify will integrate the PatientBlox technology into its already robust and scalable value-based care platform, which supports $6B in health care spend annually associated with the federal government's bundled payment program, BPCI-A, and episodes of care payment programs by health plans and employers, says a press release.

“We combined our team's healthcare, fintech, and supply chain experience with machine-learning and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to build the PatientBlox platform for administration and management of prospective bundles,” said PatientBlox Co-Founder and CEO Rahul Sharma. “Our DLT based platform enables collaboration between Healthcare Payers and Providers and provides real time data synchronization across entities thus enabling rapid scaling of prospective bundled payment programs.  We are excited to work with Kyle and the Signify team and are proud to have the novel technology developed by the PatientBlox team be part of Signify's leading platform, which is already driving real change in the healthcare industry.”

The addition of blockchain technology enables a further shift away from traditional fee-for-service models. By making payments to providers at the start of the episode, providers are incentivized to drive care redesign because there is shared measurement and accountability at every step of the process, which results in improved care coordination, outcomes and cost savings.

Read more: Garmin Acquires Finnish Company Firstbeat Analytics

An episode of care is a health care event -- a condition or a treatment -- that is marked by a sequence of interactions between a patient and providers. The blockchain can capture each of those interactions and the patient's care milestones that trigger payments. The PatientBlox platform is designed to manage these transactions without relying on fee-for-service claims.

Wearables represent a new horizon for the IoT. These devices not only keep us fit by tracking our activity levels and nutrient intake, they also monitor our sleep and track our every step through GPS. This means huge amounts of data are being collected and shared via wearables. An IBM research revealed that “The average person is likely to generate more than 1 million gigabytes of health-related data in their lifetime.”

Read more: How Secured is Blockchain for Healthcare Data Security?

Healthcare professionals are excited about wearable devices because medical research can now be conducted through crowdfunding. Apple’s ResearchKit open-source framework, for instance, allows organizations to develop apps that work with the iPhone and Apple Watch. Apple Watch users can send their health data to various apps such as SleepHealth and EpiWatch.

In personal medicine, wearable sensors can collect customized data about a person’s routine, habits, heart rate, diet, exercise levels, and many more variables, “which in turn helps healthcare professionals move away from speculative prescriptions and towards medication tailored for better outcomes,” reports tdwi. Furthermore, the same data could be used in preventive medicine, to predict diseases much earlier than before.

However, it is becoming difficult to connect these constantly growing pools of data with more traditional sources such as manually created medical records and clinical research. Experts believe a secure global information platform is needed to help people and providers to make evidence-based decisions about health-related issues.

“All this data can be overwhelming for providers and patients alike, but it also presents an unprecedented opportunity to transform the ways in which we manage our health,” says John E. Kelly III, IBM senior vice president, solutions portfolio and research. “We need better ways to tap into and analyze all of this information in real-time to benefit patients and to improve wellness globally.”

Read more: COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps In Bahrain, Kuwait and Norway Among Most Dangerous for Privacy

While wearables may help improve lives, it also has drawbacks such as misuse by cybercriminals, unethical organizations, and even dictatorial regimes. Wearable technology is here to stay. In the future, wearable sensors will become more sophisticated so as to provide reliable health data while keeping privacy at the same time.

The year 2020 saw an unprecedented acceleration of digital health, marked with record-breaking funding ($4.6 billion in Q3 2020) and mega-mergers.

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing governments everywhere to rethink the role of digital technology in healthcare.

Read more: COVID-19 Impact: Wearables Gaining Popularity During the Pandemic

For example, to keep people away from hospitals, the US and Australian governments have both approved reimbursement for telemedicine consultations, allowing patients to speak to doctors via video-link.

“The flywheel of remote care is beginning to turn,” says Pravene Nath, Global Head for Digital Health Strategy in Personalized Healthcare at Roche. “It’s like a call to action that allows us to launch more disruptive models of care. It won’t work for us only to build digital tools and expect that they will be adopted into existing clinical practices. We need to redesign the ecosystem.”

The pandemic’s impact on the company’s acceleration depended on how it applied this technology, reports MobiHealthNews.

“When we look across our portfolio, we have companies that were immediately applicable and felt the wind at their back because of the pandemic,” said Katya Hancock, the investor network director at StartUp Health, said during an Accelerate Health panel. “So those were really companies that hit the ground running and who are doing really well.”

Among the Asian countries, the Philippines put a huge emphasis on corporate health. The country built primary care clinics within large corporations to facilitate employees’ visits to the clinics. This was done to help them detect and effectively manage chronic diseases at an early stage which would in turn help to greatly reduce medical insurance costs that will be borne by employers eventually.

Malaysia was able to quickly put together a COVID-19 digital response. The country focused on areas such as, community engaging, risk and communication, operational efficiency, research and clinical trials and more.

Read more: IDTechEx Reports Describe COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact On Global Healthcare Technology

Across the globe, the pandemic has been a lightning bolt for digital transformation in healthcare, bringing scientists, healthcare professionals, and IT experts together to turn necessity into invention.

Running wearables are becoming a must-have item for the athletes these days. Wearables for athletes come in different forms such as fitness trackers, smartwatches, and smart shoes. They provide information like steps taken, distance traveled, heart rate, the route taken and many more. In this list, we have selected the best running wearables for you to improve your performance.

Read more: Runners At This Year’s London Marathon Will Wear Social Distancing Wearables

Garmin Forerunner 745

This is Garmin’s latest smartwatch designed especially for runners and triathletes. The watch is an update to the Forerunner 735XT and contains training data, on-device workouts, and smartwatch features. The watch also provides recovery time recommendations based on the difficulty of a workout. The Forerunner 745 lets users know how long to rest before another training session and accounts for factors like stress, sleep, and daily activities that impact recovery. The Garmin Forerunner 745 is priced at $499.99.

Sensoria Smart Socks

Sensoria’s smart socks have won numerous awards including “Best New Wearable Technology Device” by IDTechEX and Cool Vendors in Wearable Electronics, 2014 by Gartner, reports Sensoria. These socks let you improve speed, pace, cadence and foot landing as well as compare your shoes. The AI-powered virtual coach Mara provides audio and video real-time feedback when you pair your Bluetooth enabled Sensoria Core with the Sensoria Run app which may also help to prevent injuries. The price for Sensoria socks starts at $199.

Coros Pace 2

At just 29g with the COROS nylon band, COROS PACE 2 is the lightest GPS watch in the world at its launch. One would think that the company made serious battery life compromises for the watch to be this lightweight, but Coros advertises 30 hours of GPS tracking with the new PACE 2 watch. That’s a 20% increase from the original COROS PACE. If you need a little extra life, you’ll need to switch to UltraMax mode when the watch has low battery remaining. With a new design, featuring the COROS Digital Dial, COROS PACE 2 creates an even simpler user experience. It allows you to get your splits, check your HR or plan your next workout all using just one finger. Coros Pace 2 retails for $199.

Fitbit Inspire

The feature-packed Fitbit inspire provides different fitness regimens like running, swimming, walking, cardio workout and so on. The step counter and continuous heart rate tracker comes in handy for the athletes. Via the Fitbit app, your smartphone displays your comprehensive workout route. The app also provides you information on burnt calories, time taken during the run, and other information to make your running more efficient. Fitbit is offering a special price of $70 (€58.32) when you buy it directly through their website.

Read more: New Technology Used by NFL Athletes Gives Teams and Trainers Edge in Injury Assessment

Garmin Running Dynamics Pod

Garmin’s Running Dynamics Pod easily clips onto your waistband to measure the running dynamics you need to beat yesterday. It gives you the option to run without a heart rate monitor chest strap. Once paired with your compatible smartwatch, just clip it to the back and center of your waistband and start your run. The Running Dynamics Pod has an accelerometer in the module that measures torso movement to calculate these six running metrics: Cadence, Ground contact time balance, Stride length, Vertical oscillation, Vertical ratio, and Ground contact time. The pod is priced at $69.99.

Growing demand for smartwatches, fitness trackers and earwears on the back of rising health awareness, remote working and learning requirements led to record shipment of wearable devices in India during the September quarter (Q3 CY20), according to the recent data from the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker. The India wearables market posted a record quarter with 11.8 million units shipped during the period, the report said.

Read more: Huami Amazfit Ranked No. 1 by Shipments in Spain, Indonesia and India

In the last few quarters, wearable devices have become more affordable with the average selling price of watches coming down to $111 in 3Q20 compared to $175 in 3Q19. This is enticing consumers to upgrade from wristbands to watches. Similarly, the average price of true wireless stereo (TWS) has dropped by 48.6% YoY in 3Q20 to $57. TWS now contributes to 39.7% of the overall earwear category, as close to 4 million TWS devices were shipped during the quarter, recording a four-digit annual growth of 1156.3% in 3Q20, the IDC report said.

“The pandemic has created a new norm of learning and working from home. Virtual meetings, online classes, and increased time spent on entertainment have led to an intensified demand for earwear devices,” says Anisha Dumbre, Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India. “Vendors are capitalizing on this rising trend, addressing the growing consumer demand and launching affordable devices, making the overall earwear category more accessible”, adds Dumbre.

Product Category Highlights

Wristbands

Shipments of wristbands grew 83.3% quarter-over-quarter in 3Q20 after seeing a sequential decline in the first half of the year. However, it declined by 20.3% YoY as users started upgrading to watches. Xiaomi maintained its lead, accounting for more than half of the category shipments with a 52.4% share in the quarter. Realme stood second with a 14.6% share in the category.

Watches

Shipments of smartwatches grew by 119.9% YoY in 3Q20 with 778 thousand units shipped in the country, making it the biggest quarter since the launch of the category in India. Homegrown Indian lifestyle technology brand, Noise led the segment with a 28.5% category share in 3Q20. Realme replaced Huami for the second position with a 24.2% share of the category.

Read more: Global Medical Wearables Market Will Grow At A CAGR Of 21.4% During 2020-2027

Increased demand for wireless devices supported the earwear category to hit its all-time high shipments in the country, witnessing a 260.5% YoY growth in 3Q20. BoAt with multiple launches during the quarter, led the category with a 32.4% share, followed by Samsung that includes devices from Samsung, Infinity, Harman Kardon, and JBL with a 15.0% share. BoAt also led the overall TWS category with a 26.1% share, followed by Realme who expanded the truly wireless portfolio and secured the second position with a 15.5% market share in the TWS category.

With the rise of COVID-19 cases across the globe, healthcare professionals and employers are turning to wearable technology to do everything from monitoring blood oxygen levels to devices that are used for contact tracing.

Read more: The Global Medical Sensors Market Is Poised To Grow Strong During 2018 – 2028 Period

New deployments and studies during the pandemic will boost the healthcare wearables market (which includes connected blood pressure monitors, continuous glucose monitors, pulse oximeters, and electrocardiogram monitors) to 30 million shipments in 2020, increasing to 104 million shipments in 2025, at a CAGR of 28.5%, states global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research, according to a press release.

"Wearables have often been used in medical trials and to aid healthcare professionals to monitor the vitals of many patients simultaneously, both in and out of the hospital, with a focus on specific healthcare issues and the onset of COVID-19 is no exception," says Stephanie Tomsett, Wearables Analyst at ABI Research.

A new report by IDTechEx studies the wearable sensors market, describing the technology, market trends, and competitive landscape for sensors used in wearable electronic products. The report states that globally, the wearable sensors market will reach $3.1 billion in 2021 and then soar to $5.3 billion in 2025. These electronics includes sensors for inertial measurement, including accelerometers, and gyro and compass sensors.

IDTechEx predicts that in 2022, the wearable sensors revenue will grow to $3.8 billion globally. According to the market research firm, chemical and gas sensors will be the largest segment (about 30%), followed by cameras, optical, microphones, IMU (inertial measurement), electrodes, and GPS. A small portion of revenues will come from temperature sensors and force, pressure and stretch sensors.

Read more: Wearables Market Will Reach $97.9 Billion by 2025, Reveals Yole Report

“The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has brought additional focus to sensors, including tracking early onset of conditions, facilitation of wearables for contact tracing, and remote patient monitoring for patients in isolation. Parallel trends see smartwatches driving towards medical metrics, hearables adding more sophisticated sensor options, skin patches successfully commercializing in new applications and many industrial, military and security applications maturing. As such, wearable sensors remain a fundamental enabling component for the entire wearable technology industry, and obtaining a clear understanding of their capabilities and potential is essential for any player within the entire value chain,” IDTechEx said.

Wahoo Fitness has entered the smartwatch market with the launch of a new multi-sport watch called Elemnt Rival. The smartwatch which retails for £379.99, brings the same performance and ease of use as its cycling computers in watch form for multisport athletes.

Related: Austrian Startup Motobit Unveils Wearable That Sends Bikers Alerts Through Vibrations

“The real magic of Rival is that we were able to take everything we did with the Elemnt bike computer and create a perfect parallel, giving triathletes and runners the same ease of use that cyclists have had access to since 2016,” said Chip Hawkins, founder of Wahoo.

“A key design concern was making a watch with looks to match its performance. This is a stylish, high-performance multi-sport watch that should be the choice of any athlete looking for a lightweight GPS watch with unbelievable battery life to track the longest races.”

According to the Atlanta, GA-based fitness technology company, the Elemnt Rival offers unique multisport features like Touchless Transition, Multisport Handover and Perfect View Zoom create a seamless performance advantage whether training or competing. Touchless Transitions use data from motion sensors and Wahoo's algorithms to shift between modes with no extra input from the user.

The addition of an optical heart rate sensor, pedometer, smart notifications, ambient light sensor, and broadcast heart rate make this a viable option for cyclists and multi-sport athletes alike. Race data can also be transferred to Wahoo's Elemnt GPS bike computers automatically during events so you can always see your stats at a glance, reports TechRadar.

Using the intuitive ELEMNT operating system, RIVAL delivers a simple user experience. Designed with a 64-color screen, ceramic bezel and gorilla glass lens, ELEMNT RIVAL not only looks great for everyday use but will also withstand your hardest workouts.

The Elemnt Rival offers a generous battery run-time that’s said to be good for 14 days in watch mode and 24 hours in GPS mode.

As for design, the Rival is distinguished by its ceramic bezel and an autonomous ambient illumination function, adjusting the watch’s backlighting to the environmental ambience.

Related: Garmin Launches Feature-Packed Forerunner 745 Smartwatch For Elite Athletes

Rival is already being used by triathletes including Ironman World Champion Jan Frodeno, American Ironman World Record holder Heather Jackson, and two-time Olympians Alistair and Jonny Brownlee.

IDTechEx has revealed the findings of COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on technology on several reports. In a press release, IDTechEx described its findings of the reports titled: "COVID-19 Diagnostics", "Molecular Diagnostics 2020-2030", "AI in Medical Diagnostics 2020-2030: Image Recognition, Players, Clinical Applications, Forecasts", "Digital Health & Artificial Intelligence 2020: Trends, Opportunities, and Outlook", "Remote Patient Monitoring 2019-2029", "Electronic Skin Patches 2020-2030", "Wearable Sensors 2021-2031", and "Synthetic Biology 2018"

Read more: Wearables Playing Crucial Role In Patient Monitoring During COVID-19 Pandemic

Scientists made efforts to develop diagnostic tests to detect the virus in order to correctly diagnose patients, enact measures such as isolation and quarantine, and manage their treatment accordingly. These early tests worked by recognizing specific sequences in the viral DNA and amplifying them to a level sufficient for detection, says a press release.

With results needed at an unprecedented scale in a limited time, other diagnostic approaches were explored to quickly diagnose COVID-19 patients. The lungs of patients with COVID-19 have certain visual hallmarks such as ground-glass opacities and areas of increased density, both of which can be detected using CT and x-ray imaging. To further speed up this process, companies developing artificial intelligence solutions for the detection of respiratory diseases quickly tailored their software to differentiate COVID-19 from other respiratory infections, decreasing image analysis time to a matter of seconds, a report said.

In order to prepare for the oncoming surge in COVID-19 patients and to prevent the spread of COVID-19 between patients in healthcare settings, healthcare systems around the world halted provision of "non-urgent" doctor visits, which extends to everything from cardiac patients to cancer treatments. This, combined with the public's concern and confusion around COVID-19 diagnosis, caused a huge increase in demand for digital health services. Doctors around the world quickly switched to delivering care through digital channels such as video links and apps.

Remote patient monitoring devices were deployed to monitor patient vital signs from a distance, allowing for a significant reduction in close contact between patients and healthcare workers. Solutions for this have been developed over the past 5-10 years and many were far from widespread use, but saw a level of uptake in just a few months that would require several years of work and tens of millions of dollars in investment.

Wearables have also been explored by countries as a means of contact tracing and safe reopening. Of course, maintaining good cardiovascular health remains one of the best ways to mitigate the worst of COVID-19 symptoms, and whilst this is not an acute solution in the short term, there has been a clear movement towards general health and wellness, including the personal electronic devices which help to promote this.

Over 2020, scientists have been working at breakneck speed to develop a safe and effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 and have made significant progress by the end of the year. Several of the leading candidates leverage a new vaccine technology, based on synthetically produced mRNA. This has been a revolutionary technology that has accelerated vaccine development, and the ongoing clinical trials in COVID-19 suggest they will have a large role to play in the future beyond the current pandemic.

Read more: COVID-19 Pandemic Will Propel US Telehealth Market To Grow At A CAGR of Over 29% During 2019-25

2020 has been a historic year for many reasons, but throughout the unprecedented disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, technology solutions have time and again come to the fore as critical parts of the global response. Looking into the future, the progress of these technologies over time will be vital to moving on from the disruption, and in improving the ways in which our societies and systems deal with similar challenges in the future. The team of analysts at IDTechEx is working to characterize and evaluate technology developments today to understand the impact they will have in the future.

Zepp, a professional-grade wearable brand, has worked with Swedish creative masterminds to launch a digital Lullaby Generator. Today, the company released a Global Sleep Study featuring commentary from the World Sleep Society, an international authority in sleep health. In October 2020, Zepp commissioned an independent poll of 12,000 respondents across 6 countries to understand the concerns, perceptions and attitudes around sleep quality in these unprecedented times.

Read more: ‘Cove’ Wearable Reduces Stress And Improves Sleep By Silently Applying Gentle Vibrations Behind Your Ears

Study results

The results show that feelings of sleep deprivation are more prevalent than most believe and that there is a general yearning for more shut-eye time. The day's worries are deemed to carry on into the night, resulting in less-than-optimal sleep, and it appears to be a vicious cycle, impacting well-being the next day. With changing lifestyle habits due to the stay-at-home economy brought about by the pandemic, naturally, sleep habits have changed too. Music and meditative habits seem to resonate with respondents of this poll, Zepp said in a press release.

Pandemic and Other Anxieties  strong

Thailand was revealed as the nation that was most sleep-deprived, with half of the respondents (50%) claiming they were definitely sleep-deprived, followed by Germany (38%), USA (37.8%), UK (37.4%) Italy (18.5%) and Spain (18.2%). 43% of respondents attributed the problem to work woes, 40% to money worries, and 23% to pandemic-related concerns.

COVID-19 lockdowns were also deemed to have changed people's sleeping patterns, with more than a third (33.6%) of respondents saying they go to bed later than usual, and 20% saying they find it harder to sleep. Respondents believe they are losing an average of 2.7 hours of sleep per night due to pandemic-induced worries, with respondents in Thailand clocking the highest average loss of 4.5 hours per night.

Almost half of the respondents in the US (46%) and Spain (47%) feel that they live in a sleep-deprived nation due to technology and social media. Thailand respondents (52%) believe it results from having too much to think about and Italians agree (48%). Respondents in Germany (46%) think it is because they work too hard and are burnt out and those in the UK (46%) say it is because the world is a worrying place right now.

Coping in a Post-Pandemic World  strong

People are also actively taking measures to help themselves sleep better in this time. Top measures include listening to relaxing music, avoiding caffeine in the evening, reading before bed and meditation. 60% of respondents who have worn wearables to bed say it makes them aware of their lack of sleep.

Music as a Bedside Aid strong

89% of respondents agreed that listening to calming music can help with sleep. Poll results show Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata was the most popular track for all nations to listen to at bedtime, with the exception of Italy, with respondents favoring Chopin's Nocturne No.2. Respondents in Germany and Thailand said their favorite music genre to listen to was pop, whereas respondents in the US, UK, Spain and Italy said it was classical music.

Personalized Lullabies for an Enhanced Night's Rest

Recognizing music's role in helping people fall asleep, Zepp has worked with Swedish creative masterminds to launch a digital Lullaby Generator.

Read more: EverSleep Helps You Sleep Better by Monitoring Your Sleep, Snoring and Oxygen Saturation

The free-to-use Lullaby Generator will help users create tailor-made music based on their very own sleep patterns for an enhanced night's rest. Existing Zepp users can login to share their sleep metrics and automatically produce a unique and personalized lullaby. Non-Zepp users can also participate by answering a series of questions about their sleep habits.

The global 3D printed wearables market size is expected to reach USD 5.5 billion by 2027, expanding at a CAGR of 8.2%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. 3D printed wearable technology has witnessed high adoption in the healthcare industry. Due to numerous technological innovations in this sector, the market is expected to show significant growth over the forecast period. The demand for 3D printing is on the rise, probably due to the technology's ability to customize products to fit a customer's requirements. Moreover, numerous manufacturers have invested in the R&D of 3D printed wearables owing to increasing demand in the healthcare industry.

Read more: Silicone 3D Printing Paving The Way for Soft Robotics And Wearables

Key suggestions from the report:

• The prosthetics segment dominated the market in 2019 with a share of around 35.9% owing to increasing demand for prosthetics implants in developing countries
• The surgical instruments segment is anticipated to register the fastest growth of 8.6% over the forecast period
• The academic institutes segment accounted for the highest revenue share of 36.2% in 2019 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance over the forecast period due to increasing investment in R&D of 3D printing wearable devices
• The hospital segment is expected to register the fastest growth of 8.5% over the forecast period
• North America held the maximum revenue share of 40.6% in 2019. This can be attributed to the rapid increase in the development of wearable devices to meet the growing demand for efficient healthcare in the country.

As per the survey, it is estimated that the healthcare wearable industry is estimated to reach USD 40 Million revenue by 2022 owing to the constantly improving quality of healthcare wearables and increasing aging population. Due to these factors, the demand for portable medical devices is seen increasing in near future, says a press release.

The 3D printed medical devices can collect info including steps counts a person has walked in a day and the pulse rate. The research within the technology is presently intensive on sensors and flexible materials and their ability to be both bendy and pliable. These properties are perfect for wearables particularly in products such as small discrete sensors and smartwatches.

North America accounted for the highest revenue share of 40.6% in 2019 owing to its increasingly aging population, numerous technological innovations in the devices, and increasing investment in R&D. In addition, increase in the scope of biomedical applications, collaborations between academic institutions and hospitals, and widespread R&D activities at the industrial and academic level have fueled the market growth. Also, the presence of major players in the region contributed to market growth.

Read more: Wearable Medical Devices Market to Surpass $29 Billion by 2026, According to Transparency Market Research

Grand View Research has segmented the global 3D printed wearables market based on product type, end-user, and region:

3D Printed Wearables Product Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027)

• Prosthetics
• Orthopedic Implants
• Surgical Instruments
• Smartwatches
• Fitness Trackers

3D Printed Wearables End-user Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2027)

• Hospital
• Pharma and Biotech companies
• Academic Institutes
• Others

List of Key Players of 3D Printed Wearables Market

• 3D Systems corporation
• EnvisionTEC
• Stratasys Ltd.
• Arcam AB
• CyfuseBiomedical
• Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Zephyr Technology Corporation
• Omron Corporation
• Everist Health
• LifeWatch AG

Huami announced that it appointed Mr. Bing Xie, former Texas Instruments executive officer and senior vice president of worldwide sales and applications, as an independent director on Huami's board. Mr. Xie will serve on the board's Audit, Compensation, Nominating, Corporate Governance and the AI and Big Data Ethics Committees.

Read more: Huami’s Amazfit Smart Scale Will Monitor A Slew Of Health Metrics In Addition To Weight

Over a 21-year career at Texas Instruments, Mr. Xie most recently led the worldwide sales and applications teams. He was previously Texas Instrument’s president of Greater China (China, Taiwan, Hong Kong). Mr. Xie started his career at Hewlett-Packard, and later joined Bay Networks and 3Com. He has lived and worked in China, Italy, America and Canada. Mr. Xie holds a bachelor of science degree in electronics engineering from Xidian University, and an MBA from Clemson University, says a press release.

“I am very happy that Xie Bing can join the board of directors,” said Wang Huang, chairman and CEO of Huami Corp. “He has extensive experience and global vision obtained from working with Texas Instruments. With his leadership, I believe he can help Huami better lay out the company's strategy toward the smart IOT industry, and further promote the implementation of our health and medical strategies.”

Mr. Xie joins current standing board members Mr. De Liu, co-founder and a senior vice president of Xiaomi; Dr. Hongjiang Zhang, retired chief executive officer of Kingsoft (a Hong Kong listed company 03888.HK), former chief technology officer of Asia-Pacific R&D and Distinguished Scientist at Microsoft; Mr. Jimmy Lai, retired chief financial officer of China Online Education Group; Ms. Yunfen Lu, co-founder and vice president of Huami Corp.; and Mr. Xiaojun Zhang, co-founder and vice president of Huami Corp.

Read more: Huami’s Amazfit Aeri Mask Self-Disinfects and Unlocks Your Phone With Face ID

Huami's mission is to connect health with technology. Since its inception in 2013, Huami has developed a platform of proprietary technology including AI chips, biometric sensors, and data algorithms, which drive a broadening line of smart health devices for consumers, and analytics services for industry. In 2019, Huami shipped 37 million smart watches and fitness bands, including its own Amazfit brand, and products developed and manufactured for Xiaomi, comprising 23% of global category shipments. Huami Corp is based in Hefei, China, with U.S. operations, Huami-USA, based in Cupertino, Calif.

Fossil has launched a new version of its Hybrid HR line, the HR Hybrid Monroe. Designed especially for stylish women, the watch comes in stainless steel silver/white with a matching mesh strap and rose gold/black with leather strap. There’s a gold version as well.

Related: Fossil Launches Nextgen Touchscreen Smartwatches with Wear OS and Extended Battery Life

The price varies depending on the color and strap of the watch; so it is going to cost between $195-$215. The Fossil Monroe is a hybrid manual/E Ink smartwatch that features an always on customizable display, making it convenient to see your call logs, schedule alarms, read texts, and many more.

The Hybrid Monroe has a heart rate tracker. The watch also tracks your steps taken, distance covered and calories burnt. The workout mode enhances your workout experience. The built-in sleep tracker tracks your sleep and helps you achieve your personal goals.

The smartwatch is water-resistant up to 3ATM and compatible with devices running on Android 5.0 and above or iOS 12.0 and above. The battery lasts up to 2 weeks depending on usage.

Fossil claims the fast-charging can charge the watch up to 80% within 50 minutes, reports Fossil. You can easily check the weather, get notifications, control your music, and get app alerts through its Always-On Display.

Finally, the Fossil Hybrid HR is a fine and elegant smartwatch for women to wear and easy to use.

Related: Fossil Introduces Gen 5 Smartwatches with Wear OS and Preloaded Cardiogram

Here are more features:

• Material bracelet: Milanese bracelet made of stainless steel
• Closure: folding clasp
• Watch glass: mineral glass
• Water resistance: 3 ATM
• Notifications: Alarm Clock, App Alerts, Calendar Alerts, Email, Multiple Time Zones, Social Media, Text
• Functions: Activity Tracker, Challenge Friends to a Workout, Control Your Music, Customizable Buttons, Heart Rate Tracking, Interchangeable Watch Band, Notifications, Personalize Your Dial, Visualized Workout Routes
• Memory: 256 KB
• Connection: Bluetooth Smart Enabled/5.0 Low Energy
• Compatibility: Android 5.0 + iOS 10.0+
• Closure: safety folding clasp
• Charging time: charging time 50 min to 80%
• Battery Life: 2+ WEEKS (DEPENDING ON USE)
• Battery type: lithium-ion
• Activity tracker: Yes

Garmin added pregnancy tracking to its Garmin Connect app to give moms-to-be a snapshot of their pregnancy alongside other health, wellness and activity data. Through the app and compatible Garmin smartwatch, users can log pregnancy-related symptoms, track baby movement, create customizable reminders, receive exercise and nutrition tips and more.

Created for women by women, pregnancy tracking is Garmin’s latest innovative women’s health feature following the announcement of menstrual cycle tracking in 2019, reports BusinessWire.

“Garmin remains committed to creating products and features for women throughout all phases of their life,” said Susan Lyman, Garmin vice president of global consumer marketing. “The positive feedback we received when we launched menstrual cycle tracking was a clear indication that our female customers are looking for more opportunities to use technology to improve their health and fitness. It’s our hope that this pregnancy tracking feature helps women make sense of how their pregnancy ties into their active lifestyles and overall well-being.”

Read more: Garmin Joins Forces with Children’s Mercy Kansas City to Keep Kids Active During COVID-19 Pandemic

Key Features:

• Enter baby’s due date and track progress on a pregnancy timeline including baby’s size as it compares to common fruits and vegetables.
• Learn how fitness and performance metrics fluctuate during pregnancy with the option to adjust heart rate alerts, monitor hydration and even pause training status completely.
• Receive education on symptoms to expect and nutrition tips. Opt-in to receive weekly weight gain recommendations.
• Create customized reminders that are delivered directly to the user’s smartwatch to drink water, log symptoms, do Kegel exercises and more.
• Manually log 30+ symptoms, three types of baby movement, blood glucose levels, notes and more. Get a summary of logged data for easy sharing during checkups.
• Use the Pregnancy Tracking Connect IQ™ app to conveniently and discreetly log this information from a compatible smartwatch.
• Contraction Timer Connect IQ app lets mom and labor partner track the duration and frequency of labor contractions from a compatible Garmin smartwatch.

For women maintaining an exercise regimen throughout their pregnancy, Garmin Connect offers additional ways to customize settings within the app and supported devices, including the ability to:

• Pause training status, since status often will decrease with the increased heart rate and blood volume that comes with pregnancy.
• Enable high heart rate alerts for activities so users can monitor their heart rate and stay within their doctors’ recommendations.
• Adjust daily hydration goals.

Read more: Lumen Partners With Garmin To Launch Connect IQ Allowing Users to Improve Performance and Health

Pregnancy tracking is activated from the Garmin Connect app on a compatible smartphone within the menstrual cycle tracking feature allowing women to easily transition from logging their cycle to tracking a current pregnancy. The feature is available for many of Garmin’s best-selling wearables, including the Venu, vívoactive, Forerunner and fēnix series through the Connect IQ store. Pregnancy tracking is also available on the vívomove series through the Women’s Health Tracking widget.

Fitness tracking platform Strava has raised $110 million in a Series F round led by TCV and Sequoia, and including participation by Dragoneer group, Madrone Capital Partners, Jackson Square Ventures and Go4it Capital. The company said it will use the money to propel the development of new features, and expand its reach to cover even more users.

Read more: Fitness Wearable Startup WHOOP Raises $100 Million Series E to Become Unicorn

“We’re excited to partner with TCV and Sequoia. Together we’re building for athletes,” said Strava co-founder and CEO, Michael Horvath. “Today that means making Strava indispensable to athletes everywhere. When we do that well, we connect athletes to what motivates them, fuel the growth of our community, and strengthen our business. The experiences of Michael Moritz at Sequoia and Neil Tolaney at TCV with companies at Strava’s stage and beyond will be invaluable as we strive to enable athletes worldwide to get the most out of their active lives.”

AliveCor, a maker of artificial intelligence-enabled personal ECG devices, announced it has raised $65 million in Series E funding round led by existing investors OMRON, Khosla Ventures, WP Global Partners, Qualcomm Ventures and Bold Capital Partners. AliveCor will use the capital to enhance the growth of the company’s remote-cardiology platform by adding telehealth, detection and condition-management services for providers and healthcare institutions. It is also entering into a partnership with OMRON, which will add hypertension management to its portfolio, reports MobiHealthNews.

"We are grateful for the continued confidence of our investors," said Priya Abani, CEO of AliveCor, in a statement. "This financing speaks to the transformative power our technology brings to the healthcare system. We remain positioned to fulfill our vision of delivering AI-based, remote cardiological services for the vast majority of cases when cardiac patients are not in front of their doctor."

Healthcare platform Solv closed $27 million Series B+ funding round led by Acrew Capital with participation from MultiCare Health System, Light Street Capital as well as previous investors Benchmark and Greylock Partners. The company will use the capital to rapidly expand its national network of convenient healthcare providers, enabling more access, cost transparency and empowering more Americans to manage everyday healthcare from their phones.

Read more: Biofourmis Raises $100 Million In Series C Funding To Accelerate Global Expansion

"We're seeing dramatic shifts in the way healthcare is being accessed today. Until recently, it's been a one size fits all experience where you must book an appointment weeks in advance, drive to the office, wait and only then see a doctor. COVID-19 has pulled the future forward. Healthcare has shifted to a digital-first experience, allowing Americans to engage with healthcare from their homes without disruption in their daily lives," said Heather Fernandez, CEO and co-founder of Solv. "Solv is leading the charge to make sure that innovative providers can offer a digital-first experience, and consumers get more access to what they need, when they need it, from their phones."

Pharmaceutical giant Bayer is initiating a new digital partnership effort in the fields of cardiometabolic and renal disease, oncology and women’s health. Bayer will support five new startup companies as part of the company’s G4A Digital Health Partnerships Program.

Read more: Klue Announces Partnership with Stanford and Crossover Health for Its Behavior Change Tracker

The participating digital healthcare companies were selected by Bayer from over 400 applications from over 65 countries based upon current and future strategic fit, development stage and assessment, reports Bayer.

“Building new digital business models is a key element of Bayer’s business strategy, with the ambition to actively shape the future of healthcare. We are proud to support startups who share our vision of integrated healthcare solutions that put the patient in focus, not the disease,” said Jeanne Kehren, Ph.D., Head of Digital & Commercial Innovation and Member of the Pharmaceuticals Executive Committee of Bayer AG.

Bayer’s G4A partnership program offers two digital health collaboration segments. Under its Growth Track, selected early-stage startups receive EUR 100.000 funding to accelerate market uptake, coaching by Bayer executives, and tailored business acceleration clinics. Through the Advance Track framework, digital health companies are aligning for larger commercial deals.

Selected Growth Track partners are:

• Caria: Caria combines data and AI to connect women in menopause with evidence-based treatments, personalized health insights, and a supportive digital community.
• Elly Health: Elly Health is a digital health startup helping people impacted by chronic conditions to live healthier and happier through smart audio companionship. Users gain access to unique and personalized content around disease education, meditation practices, exercise videos, symptom management, psychosocial support and patient stories to improve their health-seeking behaviors.

Read more: Digital Health Company Sharecare Acquires Behavior Change Platform MindSciences

Selected Advance Track partners are:

• Decipher Biosciences: Decipher Biosciences offers a portfolio of genomic tests, is building the GRID database of over 85,000 whole transcriptome profiles, and is partnering with pharmaceutical companies to identify biomarkers of response to novel therapeutics.
• Sweetch: Sweetch is a clinically validated disease management optimization platform that utilizes Artificial Intelligence to significantly affect people's disease management behaviors and clinical outcomes. Sweetch's Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention (JITAI) proprietary technology converts millions of data points originating from an individual's smartphone and other connected devices into contextual, hyper-personalized, just-in-time, just-in-place recommendations.
• MyONCARE: The Myoncare Digital Health Platform is a MDR certified medical device that enables the orchestration of all health process workflows with the patient at center in only one app. Since the platform is indication agnostic it provides for a holistic overview of the patients’ wellbeing and a telemedical communication system for his/her individually created care team.

Wearables maker iRhythm Technologies on Monday released data suggesting its Zio patch increased the rate of atrial fibrillation (AFib) detection and reduced cardiac events, in results presented at the American Heart Association's annual scientific meeting.

Read more: Alphabet and iRhythm Partner Up to Develop Health Management Solutions for Atrial Fibrillation Patients

Atrial fibrillation (AF or AFib) is a quivering or irregular heartbeat, also known as an arrhythmia, which can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related complications. Normally, your heart contracts and relaxes to a regular beat. In AF, the upper chambers of the heart (the atria) beat irregularly instead of beating effectively to move blood into the ventricles.

CDC estimates that 12.1 million people in the United States will have AFib in 2030. In 2018, 175,326 deaths occurred due to AFib. People of European descent are more likely to have AFib than African Americans.

The three-year-long mHealth Screening to Prevent Strokes (mSToPS) study evaluated the detection of silent, or previously undiagnosed, atrial fibrillation (AFib) in moderate-risk individuals using the FDA-cleared Zio by iRhythm ambulatory monitoring patch. This study is the first siteless, nationwide study of its kind and was led by researchers at the Scripps Research Translational Institute, in partnership with collaborators, Aetna and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, reports GlobeNewswire.

The study aimed to determine if participant-generated data available through a wearable ECG patch could improve the identification of AFib relative to routine care and to determine if screening for AFib by wearing Zio could improve clinical outcomes at three years after the initiation of screening.

At the end of three years after the initial onset of monitoring:

• AFib was newly diagnosed in 11.4% of those actively monitored with Zio versus only 7.7% of the control group (a statistically significant 48% improvement).
• The trial found the incidence rate of a cardiac event (stroke, myocardial infarction, systemic embolism, or death) was 8.4 per 100 person-years in people diagnosed with AF who underwent active monitoring, compared to the control group incidence rate of 13.8 per 100 person-years (a statistically significant improvement). This data demonstrates Zio’s detection of AFib in moderate-risk patients supported the prevention of serious cardiac events after diagnosis.
• Active monitoring with Zio also led to fewer hospitalizations for bleeding, the primary safety endpoint for the study (incidence rate of 0.32 per 100 person-years versus 0.71 per 100 person-years).
• Active monitoring also led to fewer total hospitalizations (12.9 versus 18.9 per 100 person-years).

Ultimately, the mSToPS study found that active screening for AF, as part of a prospective, pragmatic, direct-to-participant, and nationwide study, was associated with a significant improvement in clinical outcomes and safety at three years relative to routine care.

“Through clinical validation with studies like mSToPS, iRhythm demonstrates the importance of shifting to preventative and more proactive care to catch undiagnosed atrial fibrillation and improve the lives of millions of people,” said Kevin King, CEO of iRhythm. “Zio also helps decrease costs associated with increased healthcare utilization and more significant, potentially life-threatening clinical events. At iRhythm, we are helping to create a new standard of patient care.”

Read more: Apple Heart Study Shows Wearable Technology Can Help Detect Atrial Fibrillation

iRhythm is a leading digital health care company redefining the way cardiac arrhythmias are clinically diagnosed. The company combines wearable biosensor devices worn for up to 14 days and cloud-based data analytics with powerful proprietary algorithms that distill data from millions of heartbeats into clinically actionable information.

VivaLNK, a leading provider of connected healthcare solutions, announced the availability of the newest addition to its medical wearable platform, the Vitals Data Service. This turnkey service is designed for clinical trials and healthcare applications - in remote or clinical settings.

Read more: SPHCC Partners with Cassia and VivaLNK to Use Wearable Tech for Monitoring COVID-19 Patients

The Vitals Data Service includes VivaLNK's line of FDA-cleared ambulatory medical wearable sensors, a customizable remote patient monitoring app, cloud and data concierge services for consolidated data access in customizable data formats. It is designed for fast and easy continuous data capture in remote locations even in the event of intermittent network disconnections common in ambulatory situations. Data captured from patients are sent to a centralized cloud service that offers both on-demand and retrospective data access, says a press release.

Used in pharmaceutical clinical trials including hypertension and neurological drug development, the Vitals Data Service is designed to capture and deliver a continuous dataset from anywhere the patient is located. In addition, leading institutions are using the service for advanced research such as the 3,000-patient atrial fibrillation study at UCSF and a study on the effects of stress and teenage depression at Stanford University.

“The launch of the Vitals Data Service is an important step towards enabling the diverse and ever-growing need to bring life-changing healthcare applications to market,” said Jiang Li, CEO of VivaLNK. “The next generation of medical application and drug discovery is dependent on the ability to rapidly analyze continuous streams of data in order to understand a more complete picture of human physiology.”

Vitals Data Service also offers a convenient way to download data files from multiple sites for retrospective analysis, or directly integrate clinical applications for machine-to-machine processing on demand. The vitals data available with the service include ECG rhythm, heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and accelerometer.

Read more: Current Health Partners with VivaLNK and MIR to Improve Remote Patient Monitoring

VivaLNK’s portfolio includes medical wearable sensors and data services that continuously monitor physiological parameters. The company's vision is to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare worldwide by combining technology, data, and analytics into an integrated solution.

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a circuit board that provides true flexibility and can be easily recycled. Described as “really wearable”, the device is inspired by, and sticks onto, human skin, the authors said.

Read more: Stretchable Sensor Provides Skin-Like Sensation to Robots, AR/VR

The team, led by Jianliang Xiao and Wei Zhang, reports its new electronic skin in a paper published in the journal Science Advances. The device can heal itself, much like real skin. It also reliably performs a range of sensory tasks, from measuring the body temperature of users to tracking their daily step counts.

The device is also reconfigurable, meaning that the device can be shaped to fit anywhere on the body, reports Daniel Strain in CU Boulder Today.

“If you want to wear this like a watch, you can put it around your wrist,” said Xiao, an associate professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder. “If you want to wear this like a necklace, you can put it on your neck.”

The researchers said that one day, such high-tech skin could allow people to collect accurate data about their bodies—all while cutting down on the world’s surging quantities of electronic waste.

“Smartwatches are functionally nice, but they’re always a big chunk of metal on a band,” said Zhang, a professor in the Department of Chemistry. “If we want a truly wearable device, ideally it will be a thin film that can comfortably fit onto your body.”

The researchers previously described their design for electronic skin in 2018. But their latest version of the technology makes a lot of improvements on the concept—for a start, it’s far more elastic, not to mention functional.

To manufacture their bouncy product, Xiao and his colleagues use screen printing to create a network of liquid metal wires. They then sandwich those circuits in between two thin films made out of a highly flexible and self-healing material called polyimine, the CU Boulder report said.

The resulting device is a little thicker than a Band-Aid and can be applied to skin with heat. It can also stretch by 60% in any direction without disrupting the electronics inside, the team reports.

“It’s really stretchy, which enables a lot of possibilities that weren’t an option before,” Xiao said.

Read more: Artificial Skin Could Enhance Sense of Touch and Provide Real-Time Haptic Feedback

Another advantage of this electronic skin is reusability. If thrown into a recycling solution, the polyimine will depolymerize, or separate into its component molecules, while the electronic components sink to the bottom. Both the electronics and the stretchy material can then be reused.

“Our solution to electronic waste is to start with how we make the device, not from the endpoint, or when it’s already been thrown away,” Xiao said. “We want a device that is easy to recycle."