Celebrity tattoo artist Keith “Bang Bang” McCurdy, who has inked Rihanna and LeBron James, partnered with nanoengineer Carson Bruns to create a light-sensitive “smart ink.”
BOULDER, Colo. — Mad-scientist kind of moments happen fairly often for nanoengineer Carson Bruns. A few months ago in his lab at the University of Colorado-Boulder, he tested his latest invention on his own arm and asked a colleague for help.
“We were like, ‘OK, we’re going to tattoo ourselves. Can you help us today?’” he said.
The tattoo is like a freckle, a little blue dot. But he can turn it on and off. Like the way a mood ring changes color with temperature, this tattoo changes with light: Ultraviolet light to turn it on, daylight (or even a flashlight) to turn it off.
“You can go to court and turn it off, and then go to the party and turn it on. And then go to Grandma’s house and turn it off,” said Bruns, who is affiliated with the university’s today! Listen to ‘Writing Black‘ with Maiysha Kai.
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