For families who've had a premature baby [1] who had to spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), baby is under round-the-clock monitoring, connected to a collection of wires and tapes that go directly to the skin. While critical for doctors and nurses in monitoring these babies [2], the wires and tapes makes it challenging for new parents to access, hold, and ultimately, bond with their babies [3]. It even makes it harder for healthcare professionals to access the baby.

A lab at Northwestern University has developed a flexible, skin-like, wire-free sensor [4] that not only replaces traditional clunky wires, but it's just as accurate. This is a huge development for doctors and nurses but also for the parents, as it gives moms more of an opportunity for that important skin-to-skin contact. See how the sensors work ahead.