The capsule is just over 1 inch in length with a .38-inch diameter. It has a polymer shell and has sensors that monitor body temperature, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and oxygen.
Eventually — in about 20 hours — it passes through and ... out. It spends about 4.5 hours in the stomach, 2.5 hours in your small intestine and 13 hours in the colon.
The receiver and transmitter.
A close-up illustration of how the gas-permeable membrane absorbs and monitors body chemicals.
The data.
Forget about breaking ground, this breaks wind.
Ah what science can't do for us. A group of Australian researchers have come up with an ingestible electronic pill that monitors gas levels in your gut.
The pill communicates with a pocket-sized receiver and phone app. The researchers — led by Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh of RMIT University and Peter Gibson of Monash University — announced their invention Monday in Nature Electronics.
Eventually — in about 20 hours — it passes through and ... out of you. It spends about 4.5 hours in the stomach, 2.5 hours in your small intestine and 13 hours in the colon.
Their report says their pill "can sense oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. The capsule uses a combination of thermal conductivity and semiconducting sensors, and their selectivity and sensitivity to different gases is controlled by adjusting the heating elements of the sensors."
The inventors are hoping their little pill, which has already has been tested in six healthy people, can help offer an accurate way of keeping tabs on what different foods do to us.