Ever since I was little, I can remember my dad pulling out a black pouch before dinner. He would unzip the small black pouch and pull out a cylinder the shape of a pen, a small monitor, and alcohol wipes. He would put a little piece of plastic into the pen that looked like a stick with a small ball on it. The ball would break off and inside would be a small sharp needle. My dad would take the alcohol wipe and wipe off one of his fingers on his right hand then prick his finger. Then he would squeeze his finger and let the small dot of red blood soak into the strip sticking out of the monitor.
I never understood why he would prick his finger every night before dinner until I was considerably older. My dad has diabetes, and he's had it for many years. My father and many other people in the world prick their fingers everyday to measure their blood sugar levels. Pricking his fingers doesn't bother him anymore, but I imagine there are people out there that absolutely hate it.
Researchers have developed a new way to test blood sugar levels. They have developed a new sensor that can measure glucose levels in saliva giving a diabetic a new way to measure their glucose every night. The picture above is of a surface with nano-meter wide grooves and slits that capture and scatter protons to allow a wave to detect the difference in lightwaves to determine glucose levels.
