Google wants your blood

Tech giant Google has filed a patent for a “needle-free blood watch”.
Clearly aimed at diabetics and others who need to draw blood often, the watch would send an “abrupt surge of gas” onto a wearer’s finger, puncturing the skin.
The blood droplet would then be sucked into a negative pressure chamber.
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The patent suggests that “such an application might be used to draw a small amount of blood, for example, for a glucose test,” according to RT.
The blood-sucking smart watch would not only make drawing samples easier for diabetes sufferers, it would also be less painful than using a needle, according to Google.
It’s an exciting prospect, but the company is keeping a lid on the idea, telling The Verge: “We hold patents on a variety of ideas — some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t.
“Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patents.”
The company is currently working on a few other diabetes-centric inventions, including smart contact lenses and a bandage-sized sensor that both detect a wearer’s glucose levels.
Google, now known as Alphabet, is conducting such experiments under the subsidiary name Life Sciences.
Since even a prototype is a long way off existence, it may be too soon to start debating whether we should be surrendering our biological data to one of the world’s most powerful companies.