This week in Las Vegas, tech companies at CES 2026 are unveiling the newest wearable well being gadgets — glucose screens, blood stress trackers, health trackers. Most likely not talked about on the present is that these devices could be creating a large environmental downside.
It isn’t one thing that tends to get a lot consideration however a new study from Cornell College and the College of Chicago discovered that by 2050, demand for well being wearables may hit 2 billion items per yr, or 42 occasions greater than as we speak. Except we modify how they’re made, these gadgets may generate over one million tons of digital waste and 100 million tons of carbon dioxide over that very same interval, the authors warn.
A fair larger shock is that it’s not the plastic that’s the issue. The research, printed in Nature, discovered that the printed circuit board — the system’s “mind” — accounts for 70% of its carbon footprint largely as a consequence of intensive mining and manufacturing.
The researchers recommend two fixes: develop chips utilizing widespread metals like copper as a substitute of uncommon minerals like gold, and make gadgets modular so the circuit board could be reused whereas the outer overlaying will get changed.
Wrote one of many research’s co-authors, “When these gadgets are deployed at world scale, small design selections add up rapidly.” It’s one thing to consider whereas scrolling by CES bulletins.
