An important new trend is buying electrics and electronics you customise to function not just shape. See the new IDTechEx report, "Complete Electronics as Smart Material, User-Customized 2020-2040". Builders, textile manufacturers, those doing home improvement and others are starting to buy electrically-smart materials direct from materials companies, bypassing the electronics industry.

An international team of scientists has developed colour-changing, flexible photonic crystals that could be used to develop sensors that warn when an earthquake might strike next. The wearable, robust and low-cost sensors can respond sensitively to light, temperature, strain or other physical and chemical stimuli making them an extremely promising option for cost-effective smart visual sensing applications in a range of sectors including healthcare and food safety.

Researchers have developed ultra-light tattoo electrodes that are hardly noticeable on the skin and make long-term measurements of brain activity cheaper and easier.

Expect more healthcare wearables that power themselves, many even managing with no battery. The IDTechEx report, "Energy Harvesting for Electronic Devices 2020-2040" covers this and more.

A wearable that supports companies in remaining active or safely restarting in-person activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The wearable warns employees through an audible or haptic alarm, when they are violating the social distancing guidelines while approaching each other.

This premium article discusses some of the ways by which VR devices are providing a means for online social interaction.

In the age of social distancing, training and maintenance of many complicated tasks and services has come to a standstill. However, there are technological solutions to this problem.

Aktiia has developed a wrist-worn optical blood pressure monitor that can automatically take measurements around the clock without requiring a specific arm position.

Particularly for healthcare, there is a growing demand for skin patches and other forms of smart skin for monitoring and even drug delivery and other active functions.

The e-skin, made from soft, flexible rubber, can be embedded with sensors that monitor information like heart rate, body temperature, levels of blood sugar and metabolic byproducts that are indicators of health, and even the nerve signals that control our muscles. It does so without the need for a battery, as it runs solely on biofuel cells powered by one of the body's own waste products.

This webinar shares some of the research for the new IDTechEx report, "Energy Harvesting for Electronic Devices 2020-2040". It comes at just the right time. The world's first self-powered smart watches have just arrived. They are not full-function but we are getting there. That billion a year harvester potential will be followed by similar numbers of Internet of Things nodes. Learn other big prizes making several of the world's largest companies research energy harvesting.

VARTA is intensively involved in a large number of research projects, including in the field of printed electronics. The goal is to optimize existing application options and to add new ones.

The microscale reentrant-honeycomb shaped, graphene-based electrode is characterized by an accordion-like structural stretchability. A stretchable gel electrolyte and stretchable separator are also developed for all-component stretchable full cells, with applications for future stretchable devices.

Food plays a big role in our health, and for that reason many people trying to improve their diet often track what they eat. A new wearable helps wearers track their food habits with high fidelity.

Powercast Corporation and Liquid X have announced a printed electronics venture to enable garment manufacturers to easily integrate wireless power functionality into durable, flexible, high performance and washable e-textiles.

When some full-function, always-on smartwatches are able to self-charge, the others will look like the horse-drawn cart. When Internet of Things nodes are self-charging at the right size and price, the market for them will increase one thousand times.

Ground-breaking research has found that gelatin could be used to power devices in the future, using only the heat generated from the human body.

Engineers have developed a faster, simpler 3D-printing technique to build electronics, trimming their manufacturing time from hours down to a few minutes. The method can be used to print electronics into complex shapes in volumes that could be used for antenna arrays, prosthetics, sensors and robots.

While traditional electronic systems have an inherently rigid form factor, developments in manufacturing processes and materials are enabling a new world of flexible electronics. IDTechEx forecasts the market for healthcare products containing flexible electronics to be worth over $8.3 billion by the year 2030.

Engineering researchers have created ultrathin, stretchable electronic material that is gas permeable, allowing the material to "breathe." The material was designed specifically for use in biomedical or wearable technologies, since the gas permeability allows sweat and volatile organic compounds to evaporate away from the skin, making it more comfortable for users - especially for long-term wear.