Colorado Professor is Creating the Next Generation of Brilliant ‘Hi-Tech’ Tattoos

Tattoos are becoming more and more popular for Coloradans. The tattoos of today may be very different from what people will be getting in the future, thanks to this Colorado assistant professor.

Imagine your tattoo being visible when you go out to a party, but non-existent when you have an important business meeting or are meeting your boyfriend/girlfriend's grandparents for the first time. Colorado is on the leading edge.

Sure, you want people to see that "rad" new tattoo you just got; it's a part of who you are and that tattoo means something to you. But maybe you're the kind of person who wants a tattoo but doesn't want to "show it off" all the time.

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Carson Burns is a nanoengineer and Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, who has been working on this new nano-technology of tattoos for a few years. He's now teamed up with a famous tattoo artist to bring this tattoo technology into the limelight.

Tattoo artist Keith "Bang-Bang" McCurdy is one the top tattoo artists for celebrities, most notably for the singer Rihanna.

WHAT ARE THESE 'HI-TECH' TATTOOS BEING CREATED IN COLORADO?

According to Marketplace.org, these tattoos use nano-technology: they're particles of dye encased in tiny beads of plexiglass. Those tiny beads are the same kind that people have inserted into their lips to make them fuller.

RELATED: HERE ARE THE TATTOOS THAT COLORADANS ARE LIKELY TO GET

Using this "Magic Ink" to create a tattoo will give it the functionality of being visible with ultra-violet light (like out a club) while being non-visible in regular light.

With this initial product launch, Burns, McCurdy, and colleagues hope that the cosmetic aspect of the technology will help them move to the bigger picture of "smart tattoos," where they will be "health-oriented" and tell you (by changing colors) that you're insulin is low, or that you need to put sunscreen on, etc.