According to a recent study, engineers designed a new ultrasound sticker, a stamp-sized device that sticks to the skin and can provide continuous ultrasound imaging of internal organs for 48 hours. The findings of the research were published in the journal ‘Science’. Using live images of a patient’s internal organs, ultrasound imaging gives doctors a safe, non-invasive insight into how the body functions. Trained technicians use ultrasound probes and wands to guide sound waves into the body in order to take these pictures. The heart, lungs, and other deep organs of a patient can be seen in high-definition images created by these waves reflecting back out. The researchers applied the stickers to volunteers and showed the devices produced live, high-resolution images of major blood vessels and deeper organs such as the heart, lungs, and stomach. The stickers maintained a strong adhesion and captured changes in underlying organs as volunteers performed various activities, including sitting, standing, jogging, and biking. If the devices can be made to operate wirelessly — a goal the team is currently working toward — the ultrasound stickers could be made into wearable imaging products that patients could take home from a doctor’s office or even buy at a pharmacy.