A teenager designed a bra that detects breast cancer

Julián Ríos Cantú, an 18-year-old student from Mexico, nearly lost his mom to breast cancer five years ago. After late detection of a small tumor, it quickly grew. She survived, but the disease took a toll on her body.

So the teenager designed a bra that could detect breast cancer.

The EVA auto-exploration bra is Cantú’s brain child. The bra uses sensors inside the lining that gather and store data. A tumor would cause more blood to flow to certain areas of the breast, among other changes. So if your blood flow, shape, temperature, or texture change dramatically, the bra will detect a difference. If the changes are ongoing, it will remind you to see a doctor.

By using a bra for this detection, the breasts remain in the same position every reading.

Of course, this technology is still in its prototype phase. Cantú continues to develop it along with three of his friends through his company, Higia Technologies. He estimates it will be about two years before this technology might be ready for consumer use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM5-xGsW4N8?feature=oembed

But the bra is already gaining a huge amount of support. Cantú’s invention won the top prize at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, and he walked away with $20,000.

One of the coolest parts of this bra’s design is its ease of use. The biosensors fit easily into many different bra styles. And they’ll eventually track your information with a simple app.

So women will be able to put on the bra, open an app, and simply sit for about an hour every week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iw4GFpdCMQ?feature=oembed

That small time and energy investment could improve early detection and help prevent a lot of deaths from breast cancer in the future, which is amazing all around.