Visions of the future of medicine often involve digital sensors that constantly monitor patients, but not many people imagine that these sensors could be stitched directly into us. But that's the suggestion of a team of researchers from Tufts University, who have developed prototype "smart stitches" that can be used to close wounds — but also send real-time data on tissue health to doctors.

To make their stitches smart, Tufts scientists created a few basic thread types to act as building blocks for more complex sensors, as described in a paper published in the journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering. The two most important of these were threads that could transmit small amounts of electricity, made by dipping strings of cotton in conductive ink; and threads that would carry liquid through the tissue, created by giving the threads a hydrophilic coating that increased their capillary action.

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