Scientist tests chip that stays under the skin

Talk about being a lab rat. A surgeon from New Jersey has embedded under his skin tiny computer chips that can automatically transmit personal information to a scanner, sources said. The technology will be used for identification purposes.

As an alternative to the already developing pupil and thumb identification, a new technology is a candidate to help shaping the future society. Like something you could easily find in a Hollywood sci-fi movie, a surgeon embedded under his skin tiny computer chips that transmit personal info to a scanner. The chip was developed by Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, Fla., and is similar to that implanted in animals to track and identify them.

According to Newsbytes, the new chip measures slightly smaller than a Tic Tac mint and has a miniature antenna that emits signals containing about two paragraphs worth of data when scanned by a handheld reader. There is a long way ahead of the minty device: it has to first go through clinical trials and be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before it can be marketed.

The surgeon that tested the device on himself was not identified but he mentioned that the tragedy in the World Trade Center was the main reason why he decided to try out the product. Seeing that some people were writing their Social Security number on their wrists in order to be identified in case anything happened, he decided this step on technology had to be taken. The chip was implemented on his arm and hip, said the Washngton Post.

The chip will first be marketed to patients with pacemakers and artificial hips, for example, which might need to have their medical information available in case of emergency. The signal can contain a name, telephone number and other information. Or it can send out a code that, when linked to a database, can call up records. The company said that the scanner can read it through clothes from up to four feet away. Prisioners and parolees are also on the list of targeted "customers," besides elders and young children.

In case you are wondering, the chip, some time after implement under the skin, does not appear and it is like if there was nothing there.

(Sources: Newsbytes)

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Related links:

• Applied Digital Solutions