Three school children from Essex, England have invented a condom that changes colour when it comes into contact with a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
The pupils, Muaz Nawaz, 13 and Daanyaal Ali and Chirag Shah, both aged 14, from Isaac Newton Academy in Ilford, Essex won the TeenTech award for best health innovation for their idea. They each received a £1,000 (€1,406) cash prize and will also be going to Buckingham Palace.
The condom, astutely named "S.T.EYE", changes colour depending on the disease it detects, which include gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis.
According to the product's designers, the condom exterior includes a layer covered with molecules that attaches to the bacteria and viruses associated with common STIs. This bad bacteria combined with the molecules covering the condom then causes the rubber exterior to glow a certain colour in dim light. The condom will turn green when it detects chlamydia, blue for syphilis and a whitish yellow when it detects herpes.
"We created the S.T.EYE as a new way for STI detection to help the future of the next generation," inventor Daanyaal Ali told the Telegraph newspaper.
"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," Ali said.
Maggie Philbin, founder and chief executive of TeenTech, the company which runs the competitions, said: "We encourage students to take their ideas out of the classroom by putting them face-to-face with industry professionals, helping to open their eyes to the real potential of their ideas."
Other winning inventions include an electronic hair clip which changes colour to match your outfit and an electronic wristband that connects to your phone and features a panic button which can call the police and detect a user's pulse and their location.
A more humorous entry, which unfortunately did not win a prize but was a close runner up, is an app that can calculate the monetary value of a teenager's household chores in order for parents to know exactly how much pocket money their child is owed.
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