Teens Invent Condom That Changes Colour When it Detects an STI

To be fair, it's probably never good news if a body part glows in the dark... unless you're some form of Marvel superhero.  A very smart and sexual health-aware group of teenagers have invented a condom that "glows" when it detects an STI. The condom, which the team from Isaac Newton Academy in Ilford, Essex have named S.T.EYE, was one of the designs presented at the TeenTech Awards, a competition for 11 to 16-year-old kids tasked with using technology “to make life better, simpler or easier.” The teens' creation works by using a small layer of chemicals on the surface of the rubber. These chemicals then attach to bacteria and virus commonly found in STIs, with the reaction causing molecules on the condom to emit a low fluorescent light - the colour of which is dependent on the STI detected. In case you were wondering about the range, it's: yellow for herpes, green for chlamydia, blue for syphilis and purple for the human papillomavirus. Daanyaal Ali, 14, is one of the creators. She said: "We wanted to create something that makes detecting harmful STIs safer than ever before, so that people can take immediate action in the privacy of their own homes without the invasive procedures at the doctors. "We’ve made sure we’re able to give peace of mind to users and make sure people can be even more responsible than ever before."