Technology

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• Graphene e-tattoos are wearable biosensors that stick directly to the skin
• Researchers are now developing patches that can read compounds in sweat
• These could indicate a range of conditions, as well as detecting stress

Invisible sweat sensors could one day be used to detect health conditions. That’s according to ongoing research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where a lab is developing stick-on graphene tattoos that can read and report on what’s in your sweat.

We’ve heard before that wearable sensors have the potential to revolutionize health monitoring. First developed by a team at Northwestern University, these electronic skin patches are made using graphene. Less than a millimeter thick, they’re practically invisible and can flex with the skin. In years to come, the idea is that we could be wearing these patches for real-time readings around the clock.

So far, the main focus for scientists has been how to use these biosensors to measure heart rate and blood pressure – both key markers of potential health complications. However, the next generation of these patches could get data from a different bodily source: sweat.

Sweating the small stuff

In 2017, researchers at the University of Texas created an even thinner version of a graphene biosensor. One that was applied to the skin by wetting a sheet of transfer paper – just like a temporary tattoo. Using e-tattoos like this, scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst are now attempting to harness the secrets of sweat.

According to Dmitry Kireev, a member of that team, sweat carries certain compounds out of the body and onto the skin. The team’s first focus is cortisol, an indicator of stress, stroke risk, and a number of other disorders.

Monitoring sweat isn’t a new pursuit. Several labs are working on stick-on patches that do precisely that. Some change color when certain chemicals are present, while others are attached to large electrochemical sensors. Both require chambers to collect sweat. What makes graphene e-tattoos so exciting is that they don’t – making them much smaller.

In simple terms, the graphene itself is used as a transistor. When a certain substance in sweat meets molecules on the graphene’s surface, an electrical signal is produced. Through changes in the transistor’s resistance, the amount of that substance is reported.

Down the line, the hope is that these graphene e-tattoos can be used to detect other compounds in sweat, including glucose, lactate, and estrogen. These could, in theory, be used to indicate potential health issues.

Worn as a lifestyle accessory, e-tattoos could act as early indicators of certain conditions or simply as a source of additional data to feed into the best fitness apps. In a medical scenario, the biosensors could provide real-time data without the need for blood tests.

It’s all clever stuff, but the wearable future is still a way off. For now, graphene e-tattoos still need to be wired up to an electronic circuit with a computer chip – albeit a tiny one – to transmit data from sweat. That means they’re not yet the flexible, invisible future of healthcare.

To reach that stage, researchers will need to create fully integrated circuits using graphene, including power sources and wireless transmitters. That process will probably require some blood and tears, in addition to sweat. Still, in the next decade, Kireev predicts we’ll see sweat-sensing e-tattoos built into the best smartwatches.

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The late actress starred in Gossip Girl, Harriet the Spy, played Buffy's younger sister in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, and even appeared in a Fall Out Boy video.

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If I close my eyes, I can hear the once iconic Skype ringtone: "Da DA-da, do-do DO do." It was the sound of communication and possibility. Who knows what would happen during that video call, what I would learn, what I would say? Now, as we prepare for Skype to wind down in May of this year, I want to reflect on what it's meant to you and me.

Where would we be without Skype? I know most of you no longer use the OG video calling platform, but there was a time when Skype was so popular it became a verb: 'I'll Skype you, okay?'"

Almost 25 years ago, Skype was part of the peer-to-peer (P2P) decentralized revolution. Like the music-sharing platform Napster, Skype lets you connect directly between two systems over the internet to conduct video calls, and, like Napster, it was a bit of a sensation.

By 2005, unlikely suitor eBay bought it and then sold a majority stake to an investment group. Two years later, Microsoft paid $8.5 billion to acquire the by-then wildly popular video communication platform. I'd say it was attractive because Skype was being used by consumers and businesses, including broadcast outlets that liked to conduct Skype-based on-air interviews.

A sound like no other

By that time, I'd been using Skype for years and worried that Microsoft might ruin the service (I guess, ultimately, I was right). I'd dallied with using it to call friends and family. After all, FaceTime didn't arrive until 2009, and at the time, most people didn't own an iPhone, but they did have Windows PCs.

Dressed 50% for Skype TV https://t.co/SsyjyZl2xD pic.twitter.com/3EtlcItcM3October 29, 2020

Most of my Skype calls were with broadcast studios who appreciated Skype's remarkable network management, which usually ensured clear audio and video that nearly rivaled what they could get via satellite feeds. Naturally, they also liked it because it was cheaper than those satellite hookups and then sending out an entire film crew.

Skype was where I learned to half-dress for television: If I wasn't going to a studio and only needed to show 50% of me to the Skype camera on my PC, then it was business on top and party (or at least casual) on the bottom. I mastered this look years before I would repeat it for countless Google Meet, Cisco Webex, and even Microsoft Teams video conferences.

Building on Skype

Microsoft's interest and devotion to Skype waxed and waned over the years, but for a time, Skype was a hub of development. It was an early home for Cortana, Microsoft's first digital assistant, and was the first place where I saw real-time translation at work.

That's right. Skype was translating the spoken word in real time long before Google and Samsung brought the feature to phones.

We're getting a preview of "the next generation of Skype." Note the Cortana integration. #Build2016 pic.twitter.com/HpNfKVmvObMarch 30, 2016

If we hadn't trained on Skype, would we have been truly prepared for remote work and all those video meetings? I know so many video conferencing platforms showed up in the years before the pandemic when we were all shuttered at home, but which one showed us the way? I'd argue it was Skype.

Eventually, broadcasters and most of my Skype buddies moved away from Skype. Media companies started using Zoom and the aforementioned Cisco. Businesses adopted Google Meet, Zoom, and Microsoft's newer and more preferred platform, Teams, which is better integrated with the Microsoft 365 suite.

Gen Z might point to Zoom as the platform that made video conferencing cool, but aside from being free, widely available, and supporting large group video conferences, it didn't do anything that Skype hadn't done first. But digital memory is short, and I'm sure they'll tell their grandkids, who'll use brain chips to send video streams to friends and social media, that when they were kids, they used to "Zoom."

Gen Z might point to Zoom as the platform that made video conferencing cool, but aside from being free, widely available, and supporting large group video conferences, it didn't do anything that Skype hadn't done first.

In announcing the change, Microsoft included this in a blog post, "Skype has been an integral part of shaping modern communications and supporting countless meaningful moments, and we are honored to have been part of the journey. "

It's true: Skype, the unruly and sometimes unloved communication platform, made it possible and okay to communicate with anyone via video on a PC. It was the realization of a dream that stretched back to 1927's Metropolis and the 1960s cartoon of the future The Jetsons.

I'll miss Skype, its dial-in sound, and even the name. Maybe Microsoft will find another use for it, though I struggle to imagine what that might be.

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Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Friday, February 28 (game #1131).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1132) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1132) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.

Quordle today (game #1132) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1132) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1132) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• D

• B

• K

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1132) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1132, are…

• DENSE
• BONEY
• KITTY
• SMEAR

I missed my chance to finish on six guesses today. I was so focussed on hammering out my three starter words before contemplating the rest of the puzzle that I completely missed that I had all the letters for SMEAR.

After this I got pretty lucky with my guesses – KITTY could have been TIZZY, but I went for the more likely word.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Daily Sequence today (game #1132) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1132, are…

• SLAIN
• TOKEN
• MINUS
• CYCLE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1131, Friday 28 February: PASTA, RAZOR, PLUMB, DROOL
• Quordle #1130, Thursday 27 February: THIEF, CHAIR, ETHER, GRIME
• Quordle #1129, Wednesday 26 February: LOVER, SPIED, VAPOR, METER
• Quordle #1128, Tuesday 25 February: TWIST, TWEAK, MEANT, CLEAR
• Quordle #1127, Monday 24 February: LEASH, LEVER, TOTEM, CREME
• Quordle #1126, Sunday 23 February: RABID, RELIC, SCRAM, BASIS
• Quordle #1125, Saturday 22 February: ETHER, SONIC, VAUNT, ROUSE
• Quordle #1124, Friday 21 February: STIFF, PRIZE, SCOWL, DONUT
• Quordle #1123, Thursday 20 February: HASTY, DRAPE, FICUS, CRAZE
• Quordle #1122, Wednesday 19 February: ABATE, TROVE, VENUE, DRAPE
• Quordle #1121, Tuesday 18 February: TAMER, SCRUB, BRICK, DRIFT
• Quordle #1120, Monday 17 February: SADLY, WAFER, LITHE, IDIOM
• Quordle #1119, Sunday 16 February: GHOUL, AFIRE, COVEN, FIERY
• Quordle #1118, Saturday 15 February: CREEP, CONDO, GRILL, FANCY
• Quordle #1117, Friday 14 February: MEDIA, ELUDE, THUMB, WIDOW
• Quordle #1116, Thursday 13 February: SCALP, DWELL, AMPLE, TRUNK
• Quordle #1115, Wednesday 12 February: SHOOK, GRADE, POLAR, SEEDY
• Quordle #1114, Tuesday 11 February: HEAVY, CIRCA, PESKY, SCION
• Quordle #1113, Monday 10 February: TWIXT, FRESH, GUISE, TABBY
• Quordle #1112, Sunday 9 February: TAPIR, SHAKE, TOKEN, SEVEN

The league leaders head to Europe-chasing Die Roten.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Friday, February 28 (game #362).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #363) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Let us prey

NYT Strands today (game #363) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• CRUX
• PAIN
• HOUR
• SAND
• DATE
• DARN

NYT Strands today (game #363) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Seafaring body art

NYT Strands today (game #363) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: bottom, 5th column

Last side: top, 2nd column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #363) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #363, are…

• HUMAN
• CROCODILE
• LION
• ORCA
• TYRANNOSAURUS
• SPANGRAM: APEX PREDATORS

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 hints

A confession – I got Predators before the Apex part and it took me three attempts to tap out TYRANNOSAURUS in the correct order. Other than that being one of the APEX PREDATORS myself, I ate up this puzzle in no time (not really).

It’s odd to think of HUMANS alongside this company. Sure, we are dangerous but without weaponry we would be defeated by all of them.

The other Apex Predators don’t spend their time watching TV or playing puzzles, they’re too busy being Apex Predators. Well, not the Tyrannosaurus so much these days.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday, 28 February, game #362)

• EAGLE
• SHIP
• SWALLOW
• ANCHOR
• MERMAID
• COMPASS
• SPANGRAM: SAILOR TATTOO

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Friday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Friday, February 28 (game #628).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #629) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• PHANTOM
• TOLLBOOTH
• LADYBUG
• MIDNIGHT
• SHAMROCK
• RHINESTONE
• SUNSET
• TOOLBOX
• TOMBOY
• HORSESHOE
• FIDDLER
• DRUGSTORE
• MERRILY
• TOWBOAT
• SPACE
• PENNY

NYT Connections today (game #629) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Charms
• GREEN: Composite terms
• BLUE: Theater singalongs
• PURPLE: A profession links these movies and tunes

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #629) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: ASSOCIATED WITH GOOD LUCK 
• GREEN: TO-BO- COMPOUND WORDS 
• BLUE: BROADWAY MUSICALS, FAMILIARLY
• PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE "COWBOY" IN FILM AND MUSIC 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #629) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #629, are…

• YELLOW: ASSOCIATED WITH GOOD LUCK HORSESHOE, LADYBUG, PENNY, SHAMROCK
• GREEN: TO-BO- COMPOUND WORDS TOLLBOOTH, TOMBOY, TOOLBOX, TOWBOAT
• BLUE: BROADWAY MUSICALS, FAMILIARLY FIDDLER, MERRILY, PHANTOM, SUNSET
• PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE "COWBOY" IN FILM AND MUSIC DRUGSTORE, MIDNIGHT, RHINESTONE, SPACE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 mistake

A great start for me today, landing the Purple group immediately.

I’m a big Glen Campbell fan so the first thing I thought when I saw RHINESTONE in today’s grid was his classic song Rhinestone Cowboy. I love the movie MIDNIGHT Cowboy too, one of Dustin Hoffman’s finest.

I initially thought ASSOCIATED WITH GOOD LUCK was something to do with travellers and linked together HORSESHOE, SHAMROCK, TOWBOAT and PENNY before realizing the error of my ways. FIDDLER, PHANTOM and SUNSET all seemed connected to BROADWAYS MUSICALS, FAMILIARLY but MERRILY was a stab in the dark as I was unaware of Merrily We Roll Along. It looks fantastic, though.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 28 February, game #628)

• YELLOW: BE INDECISIVE HESITATE, WAFFLE, WAVER, YO-YO
• GREEN: LUCIDITY MARBLES, MIND, SENSE, WITS
• BLUE: LOVELY PERSON ANGEL, DEAR, DOLL, PEACH
• PURPLE: COMPONENTS OF METAPHORS FOR THINGS THAT CAN'T BE
• UNDONE BELL, EGG, GENIE, TOOTHPASTE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

• Scientists at UChicago PME develop a new atomic-scale data storage method
• Their approach uses crystal defects to store data as ones and zeroes
• Research combines quantum science, optical storage, and radiation dosimetry

All digital systems use bits, represented as ones and zeroes, to store, compute, and manage data. Storage device size has long been restricted by the physical scale of the binary data units, but scientists at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (UChicago PME) have come up with an intriguing solution.

Their new method for data storage manipulates atomic-scale crystal defects - microscopic gaps where atoms are missing - so they can hold an electrical charge, allowing them to be designated as “ones” and “zeroes,” much like in binary data storage.

“It’s impossible to find crystals - in nature or artificial crystals - that don’t have defects,” explained Leonardo França, the study's first author. “So what we are doing is we are taking advantage of these defects.”

Terabytes of bits in a 1mm cube

A paper detailing the breakthrough has been published in the journal Nanophotonics, as to develop the memory storage system, researchers used crystals of Yttrium oxide and added ions of praseodymium, a rare-earth element.

“When the crystal absorbs sufficient energy, it releases electrons and holes. And these charges are captured by the defects,” França said. “We can read that information. You can release the electrons, and we can read the information by optical means.”

This advancement draws on interdisciplinary research, combining principles from quantum science and optical storage. The work stems from earlier studies on radiation dosimeters - devices used to monitor radiation exposure levels in environments like hospitals and particle accelerators.

“We found a way to integrate solid-state physics applied to radiation dosimetry with a research group that works strongly in quantum, although our work is not exactly quantum,” said França.

“There is a demand for people who are doing research on quantum systems, but at the same time, there is a demand for improving the storage capacity of classical non-volatile memories. And it’s on this interface between quantum and optical data storage where our work is grounded.”

“Each memory cell is a single missing atom - a single defect,” explained Assistant Professor Tian Zhong from UChicago PME. “Now you can pack terabytes of bits within a small cube of material that’s only a millimeter in size.”

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• IDC has adjusted (reduced) its PC market forecast for 2025
• Windows 10 deprecation and AI PC effects aren’t strong enough
• 2025 predicted growth is 3.7%, compound AGR for 2025-2029 is just 0.4%

Despite the apparent resurgence of the PC market in recent months, analysts are increasingly concerned about the future as global trends and geopolitical troubles continue to affect the industry.

Responding to recent tariffs on Chinese imports imposed by the US, IDC has adjusted its forecast and reduced the market growth to just 3.7%.

“Price hikes stemming from tariffs in the US combined with subdued demand are leading to a negative impact within the largest market for PCs," noted Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.

PC market faces more troubles

Separately, Canalys saw the market regain some of its seasonal trends while growing 3.9% for the whole calendar 2024.

Analysts there predict AI PCs could account for up to 35% of the market in 2025 – up from 23% in the final three months of 2024.

Canalys Analyst Kieren Jessop agrees with IDC: “looming trade policy shifts in the US threaten to disrupt the market that accounts for around one in three shipped PCs and could hamper the upcoming commercial refresh cycle and dampen an already muted consumer outlook.”

Jessop added: “So far, the Trump administration has placed a 10% tariff on all Chinese imports, which accounts for a significant majority of laptops shipped to the US.”

IDC is also concerned about the general consumer PC market, which grew just 2% in 2024. The company described the migration to Windows 11 as “modest” – the flagship OS only accounts for around 37% of all Windows installs (via Statcounter), compared with 60% for Windows 10.

Looking past calendar 2025, IDC is predicting annual growth rates of less than 1% up until 2029. Compound annual growth rate for 2025-2029 is predicted to average out at just 0.4%.

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The full moon will put on a show during a total lunar eclipse in March, but be prepared to stay up late. For many, it coincides with Pi Day.