Masks

Diving deep underwater while holding your breath can be risky, which is why many freedivers wear a dive computer on their wrist. The face-worn Oxama device is claimed to offer several advantages, including the fact that it speaks to its wearer.

As most of us have noticed over the past couple of years, face masks can sometimes be a hassle – necessary though they are. An experimental new mask, though, automatically becomes easier to breathe through when maximum air filtration isn't required.

The James Dyson Award is an international competition to encourage students to get creative to solve the world's pressing problems. The national finalists have been announced for 2021, showcasing ideas that help people and the environment.

LG has updated its PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier mask by incorporating a microphone and speaker to make it easier to talk. The new device will appear first in Thailand in August with other parts of the world to follow.

It looks like something straight out of dystopian sci-fi, but then here we are. Biotlab has presented a neck-mounted wearable that provides you with a range of magnetic face shields, and a personal supply of HEPA-filtered, UV-sterilized air.

Scientists at RMIT University are continually coming up with ways to work recovered waste items into high-performing road materials. The latest is made with help from shredded face masks and they claim it offers some unique engineering advantages.

Gaming brand Razer looks to the future of face masks with its Project Hazel, a reusable transparent mask concept with detachable filters, a built-in mic and amplifier, and Chroma RGB LED lights for those keen on embracing some cyberpunk techno flair.

A new flow visualization study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) starkly demonstrates why face masks with exhalation valves are not effective for slowing the spread of COVID-19.

With people wearing masks so much of the time now, it can be difficult to tell what expression is on someone's face. A new system can reportedly do so, though, utilizing cameras mounted on their headphones.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have leveraged recent advances in 3D printing to produce electronic fibers that could be used as sensors for health monitoring, all while being invisible to the naked eye.

Face masks are here to stay for a while yet – so you might as well have some fun with them. The JabberMask is a voice-activated wearable packed with LEDs that move like a mouth in time with your speech, and can smile or display emojis on demand.

A new study modeling how effective face shields and face masks with exhaust-valves are in blocking the dispersal of aerosol-sized droplets suggests the growing use of these alternative face coverings may not be helpful in curbing the spread of COVID-19.