Human arm transmits broadband signals

How's this for a good example of high-tech mobile broadband? Researchers at Korea University in Seoul have just announced they managed to transmit data at a rate of 10Mb through a human arm between two electrodes placed on human skin.

The thin, flexible electrodes used significantly less energy than a wireless link such as Bluetooth, thanks to the fact electromagnetic waves were able to be passed through skin which protected the signal from outside interference.

It's thought this technology could be used to great effect as a tool for monitoring the health of patients. At the moment it's very difficult to monitor blood sugar or heart rate in a person going about their everyday life as it means either covering them in wires to a recording device, or using wireless transmission - a process which relies on external power.

In fact, it could also prove to be a handy wire-free alternative to technology currently being trialled by Phillips. At the moment, it's testing the benefits of diagnostic equipment linked to local hospitals in order to allow distant monitoring of chronically ill patients in their home over a broadband connection.

In fact, the Korean research team has confirmed it is currently working with an unnamed electronics manufacturer to develop health-monitoring networks using the new electrode technology.

Speaking on how this "energy-efficient" communications system would be able to transmit data to an external source, computer engineer John Lach, from the University of Virginia, told New Scientist: "You would need to attach some type of receiver to connect an intra-body network to a cellphone, whereas most cellphones are already Bluetooth enabled."