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A 17-year-old high school student and finalist in a national science competition has made an impressive invention that can save his life, especially in developing countries. Dasia Taylor from Iowa City, Iowa, read about ‘smart’ sutures covered with a conductive material that can transmit changes in a wound to smartphones and computers. Smithsonian. The problem, as Dasia saw it, was that those expensive sutures were unlikely to be accessible to people in low- and middle-income countries, where infections in surgical sites are usually more common and more deadly, according to the Washington Post. When her chemistry teacher talked about a political science fair in October 2019, Dasia began making her own sutures that would register changes in pH levels without electronics. The key: beet.
Human skin has a pH of about 5, but it rises to 9 with an infection. As Dasia discovered, beet juice is bright red with a pH of 5, but turns dark purple at a pH of 9. This meant that a suture containing the color of little juice should change color with the appearance of ‘ an infection. Tests with a cotton-polyester blend of yarn prove Dasia’s theory. In five minutes below a pH of 9, the sutures turned dark purple. After three days they fade to light gray. Dasia not only ‘dominated’ the state competition, but was also named one of the 40 national finalists in the prestigious Regeneron Science Talent Search, according to the Post. More research is needed to put the idea into practical use. Standard sutures, for example, are not absorbent to keep bacteria out. But Dasia is not scared and plans to patent her invention. (Read more invention stories.)