3 ms·

Color-changing ink turns clothes into giant chemical sensors

30 points by prostoalex 6y ago

kingkawn 6y ago
In the early 90s hypercolor shirts would change color depending on the temperature. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor
- dogma1138 6y ago
  Ah yes the sweat stains shirts.
- jwilk 6y ago
  Non-mobile link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor
rapnie 6y ago
And with the slightest, tiniest scroll movement accidentally made with my thumb on my mobile, the cookie popup disappeared. Since I'm scrolling that must mean I consent to being tracked, right?
- dsukhin 6y ago
  Not to disagree with your premise, but if you scrolled back to the top, the cookie consent box reappears. It just hides so you can read the article when you scroll which by itself isn't bad. It's not clear it assumes consent but it's also not clear it doesn't. IMHO the cookie consent box is a flawed premise from the start, it's annoying to the user (especially on mobile where it takes half the screen) and there is no way to verify it is actually implemented correctly and doesn't just track you anyway regardless of what you do - hence your comment above. If one really decides a first party cookie is a privilege rather than a simple data storage primitive on the web because it's been abused by google analytics etc, this is something you can set your browser to ask for permission each time or a content blocker to avoid from sources like Google. Keep in mind, that does affect the site's ability to understand which of it's content is most popular which is not bad on its own - but yes there are workarounds to this too like server logs which are probably more reliable anyway. This cookie box is the most annoying side effect of GDPR with almost no benefit as it's riddled with dark patterns and "compliant" sites that don't respect the spirit of the law, just the letter.
b0rsuk 6y ago
My mom told me a few times that, as a little girl, she wished she could see peoples' farts. Their color would depend on what they ate. I hope they hurry so my mother's childhood dream comes true.
VLM 6y ago
If you want to see state of the art 40 years ago there's Army M9 detector paper which is this concept applied to tape instead of fabric, and detecting multiple chemical agents instead of lactate. Using pH to determine intensity is ingenious. My experience in the Army was 1) Supply is enough of a hassle under normal circumstances such that having to replace after it detects is a pain. 2) It was always unclear if a faint color change meant a minor exposure or some kind of contaminant laundry malfunction type thing.

30 points by prostoalex 6y ago

In the early 90s hypercolor shirts would change color depending on the temperature. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor

dogma1138 6y ago
Ah yes the sweat stains shirts.
jwilk 6y ago
Non-mobile link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor

rapnie 6y ago

And with the slightest, tiniest scroll movement accidentally made with my thumb on my mobile, the cookie popup disappeared. Since I'm scrolling that must mean I consent to being tracked, right?

dsukhin 6y ago
Not to disagree with your premise, but if you scrolled back to the top, the cookie consent box reappears. It just hides so you can read the article when you scroll which by itself isn't bad. It's not clear it assumes consent but it's also not clear it doesn't. IMHO the cookie consent box is a flawed premise from the start, it's annoying to the user (especially on mobile where it takes half the screen) and there is no way to verify it is actually implemented correctly and doesn't just track you anyway regardless of what you do - hence your comment above. If one really decides a first party cookie is a privilege rather than a simple data storage primitive on the web because it's been abused by google analytics etc, this is something you can set your browser to ask for permission each time or a content blocker to avoid from sources like Google. Keep in mind, that does affect the site's ability to understand which of it's content is most popular which is not bad on its own - but yes there are workarounds to this too like server logs which are probably more reliable anyway. This cookie box is the most annoying side effect of GDPR with almost no benefit as it's riddled with dark patterns and "compliant" sites that don't respect the spirit of the law, just the letter.

b0rsuk 6y ago

My mom told me a few times that, as a little girl, she wished she could see peoples' farts. Their color would depend on what they ate. I hope they hurry so my mother's childhood dream comes true.

VLM 6y ago

If you want to see state of the art 40 years ago there's Army M9 detector paper which is this concept applied to tape instead of fabric, and detecting multiple chemical agents instead of lactate. Using pH to determine intensity is ingenious. My experience in the Army was 1) Supply is enough of a hassle under normal circumstances such that having to replace after it detects is a pain. 2) It was always unclear if a faint color change meant a minor exposure or some kind of contaminant laundry malfunction type thing.