When conducting spacewalks, astronauts are constantly exerting themselves and as a result face the danger of heat exhaustion and even heat stroke. As a result, NASA teamed up with researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the late 1980s to develop an ingestible “thermometer pill” called the Ingestible Thermal Monitoring System. At the time of its development it was very advanced, and featured wireless telemetry, microminiaturized circuitry, sensors, and batteries. It has since found extensive application in sports as a result of concerns over heatstroke risk among athletes.
This ingestible thermometer pill is available commercially from HQ Inc. The pill encapsulates sensors, batteries and electronics in a silicone shell.
Once ingested, the encapsulated crystal sensor vibrates at a frequency relative to the body’s internal temperature, and transmits a low-frequency signal harmlessly through the body. The pill is then passed normally in the stools within 1-2 days.
So far it has found applications in sports physiology, firefighting, in healthcare, occupational safety, the military, and in many research projects in which continual accurate core body temperature measurements are useful.
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