Sweat sensing and the geopolitics of perspiration

In 2019, I became really captivated by new digital technologies for sensing and analyzing sweat. Sweat sensing patches, for example, are a promising development for diabetics keen on non-invasive methods for measing biomarkers like blood sugar. As it happens, people have tried to “sense” sweat in all sorts of weird and fascinating ways dating back to the days of Hippocrates. This project asks: how have Western and imperial medical sciences observed, quantified, and analyzed perspiration over the last four centuries?...

May 2020 · Ian Spangler