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Three students in Britain have won an award for their idea of a condom which would change colour in the presence of disease-causing micro-organisms such as syphilis, herpes virus, HPV, or chlamydia — STIs or Sexually Transmitted Infections. Antibodies in the rubber would link to the organisms' surfaces, leading to the appearance of a distinct colour which would indicate what pathogen was present.
http://techxplore.com/news/2015-06-uk-youths-color-changing-condom-stis.html
Here is an idea: condoms that change color when they come in contact with STIs. That is the idea from three students in the UK attending the Isaac Newton Academy in Ilford. They developed their idea into a contest entry and they won in the "Healthcare Category" in the Teen Tech Awards. Their concept is called "S.T.EYE."
Daily Mail and other sites this week reported that the material turns green if in the presence of chlamydia. Yellow indicates herpes. Purple indicates HPV (human papillomavirus) and blue, syphilis.
The three inventors are 13-to-14 year olds. Daanyaal Ali, Chirag Shah, and Muaz Nawaz hoped their invention can help the future of the next generation. Their prize includes cash and a trip to Buckingham Palace.
In a report from BBC Newsbeat, Daanyaal said that "Once the [bodily] fluids come into contact with the latex, if the person does have some sort of STI, it will cause a reaction through antibodies and antigens hanging on to each other, which triggers an antibody reaction causing a color change."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by EQ on Saturday September 19 2015, @05:04AM
Gonorrhea? Theres a nasty resistant strain going thru the northern UK right now (Im an RN now, so I have to worry about this sort of thing to be sure I check for it when we have a new patient from the UK with the appropriate symptoms).
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday September 19 2015, @05:10AM
The obvious weakness is that you have to dip your wick before you know.
Let's navigate this breakthrough into strip-testing, shall we?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Francis on Saturday September 19 2015, @05:16AM
Weakness? I'm not sure that's a weakness. Having results that quickly means that if somebody lies they'll be found out pretty much immediately. I'm not sure making this a glove would be much better.
The main weakness here is that in order to find out if the guy wearing the thing has any diseases you have to flip the thing inside out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 19 2015, @05:34PM
Nah. Women and Men with micro-penii can use strap-on dildoes with the condom on in order to anally penetrate their partners before the main dish.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 19 2015, @11:56PM
The obvious weakness is that it has to be worn to produce any results, but the giant pro is that afterwards if there's no positive results on it you both know you can go bare for the next round.