Measure Your Sun Exposure with this Wearable UV Sensor

Knowing what a healthy amount of sun exposure looks like for you is essential when it comes to getting a healthy level of Vitamin D while avoiding sunburn, wrinkling skin or skin cancer. The right amount depends on an individual’s skin type, which can range from classification Type I to Type IV. Now, there’s a wearable sensor in the works that will help you track your UV intake.

Professor Vipul Bansal of RMIT University is the leading developer behind the new color-changing sensors that measure daily ultraviolet (UV) exposure. These sensors are child safe and come in six variations to match the range in human skin tones.

Currently, the only tool we have to manage sun exposure is the UV index. So far this tool only indicates UV ray intensity and not an individual’s daily exposure.

This discovery has the potential to monitor daily sun, and UV exposure, which will help improve safety and reliability, not only in our health but with consumer products like vehicles and military equipment, too.

The study is available on Nature Communications.