You really should pop your pills. Well, your prescription pills, that is. If you neglect to ingest the medication you’re prescribed, you could fall victim to a harsh scolding by your physician or mother, as they now have something more than a mere sixth sense to work off of.

Researchers at the University of Florida have recently announced the birth of the ‘Tattletale Pill.’ This means that in the near future, when you take your meds you just may be swallowing a microchip and antenna, too.

The Tattletale Pill does exactly as its name implies. If you have a younger sibling, the concept should be fairly familiar. The pill basically lurks around, waiting for the subject to follow orders. Whether or not the subject takes his or her prescription, the pill signals to a pre-established list of people who then ensure the pill has been ingested. Thought it was bad when your little sister blew the whistle on you for sneaking out? At least she didn’t have access to an antenna that is capable of immediately notifying everyone you’ve met since kindergarten whether or not you’ve taken your medication. Even that bully who poked you in the eye with a stick on the playground in third grade wasn’t this invasive. Yeah, I’m talking about you, Spencer.

The intended use of this pill is to aid doctors in ensuring patients are taking the proper dosage of medication at the required time. By sending alerts when the pill has not been ingested, it can aid the elderly that may be forgetful at times. After sending too many signals, it could also implicate an individual of abusing prescription pills.

The tattletale concept has materialized into the smartest pill to ever be subjected to stomach acid. The capsule itself is indistinguishable from an average pill except for the printed label coating it, composed of silver. This acts as the antenna, relaying the status of the pill through signals. Inside the capsule, alongside the prescribed medication, is a miniscule microchip that does the processing. The status is perceived by the microchip and then broadcast by the antenna to a receiver worn by the subject. This receiver prompts the dispersion of notifications to the specified individuals.

Don’t worry, a little stockyard of microchips won’t pile up at the bottom of a consumer’s stomach. The microchips can easily be passed through the digestive track, and the silver label will decompose in the stomach acid. Although early studies have found that trace amounts of silver may be retained in the human body, it is equivalent to no more than what can be ingested by drinking tap water.

I would compare this medical miracle to a human tattletale on speed and steroids, but the ingestion of the illegal drugs might be difficult to mask when armed with a microchip. So I’ll just settle by comparing it with a snitch on his sixth cup of coffee and armed with a megaphone.

The team that is conducting the research and testing for this technological advance consists of Rizwan Bashirullah, an assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida; Hong Yu, a doctoral student at UF; Chris Batich, a UF materials science and engineering professor; and Neil Euliano, an employee of Gainesville, Fla.-based Convergent Engineering.

So far the Tattletale Pill has been successfully tested on cadavers and artificial human replications. With the successes seen so far, it is speculated that the pill could be ready for consumer dispersion sometime next year.

Jessica Smith is a sophomore information management and technology and television, radio and film major and the technology columnist. Her column appears every Thursday and she can be reached at jlsmit22@syr.edu.

Published on April 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm