- Pill thermometer
A "pill thermometer" is an ingestible
thermometer in pill form that allows a person'score temperature to be constantly monitored. It was developed by NASA in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University for use with astronauts [http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/technologies/thermometer_pill.html Ingestible Thermometer Pill Helps Athletes Beat the Heat] ] . Since the pill has been used by Mountain Climbers [ [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3303_denali.html Transcript of the NOVA episode, "Deadly Ascent"] ] and Football Players . The Thermometer Pill is currently manufactured by the company, HQ Inc under the brand name CoreTemp [ [http://www.hqinc.net/ HQ Inc. formerly HTI Technologies manufactures the CorTemp Temperature Pill used in detecting heat stress ] ] .How it Works
Once ingested, the pill, transmits temperature data gathered from a vibrating quartz crystal sensor via radio to a recording device outside the body. 18-30 hours after being swallowed, the pill safely passes the digestive system .
References
External Resources
* [http://www.hqinc.net/ HQ Inc ] - the manufacturer of the pill
* [http://www.hqinc.net/pages/pill_page.html A schematic of the pill]
* The pill's [http://www.google.com/patents?id=FVkHAAAAEBAJ&dq=6254548 patent]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3303_denali.html Transcript] of the NOVA episode, "Deadly Ascent" which features the pill prominently
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.