July 09, 2016

The Man Who Biohacks Olympic Athletes: Electronic Tattoos, Self-Quantifying Contact Lenses, Flexible Electronics, Artificial Intelligence & More.

58 minutes

I recently watched a fascinating video about sports technology in which Dr. Mounir Zok, who is the Director of Technology and Innovation for the U.S. Olympic Committee, delves into everything from electronic tattoos that read body signals to contact lenses that analyze fluid in the eyes for instant self-quantification. In other words, this guy is the nerd who biohacks the jocks. Dr. Zok, who holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, plays an instrumental and strategic role in bringing emerging technologies to Team USA. He is responsible for championing, setting up and running high-performance technology programs that increase the medaling chances of Team USA athletes at the future Olympic and Paralympic Games, including wearable technology, smart textiles and fabric, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence and cognitive computing. And Dr. Zok is fluent in four languages. So he is officially one. Smart. Cookie. In today's episode, we take a deep dive into the realm of advanced self-quantification techniques for athletes. During our discussion, you'll discover: -How Dr. Zok measures the oxygen levels in his muscles... -Why sweat and tears are the new goldmine in self-quantification... -How an electronic, biodegradeable tattoo can be used to detect muscle and nervous system activity... -The fascinating emergence of new contact lenses for analyzing fluids in the eye... -Socks that can measure your blood lactate levels... -Headbands that can prime the motor cortex for enhanced performance... -How the US Women's Track Cycling team is using artificial intelligence to enhance training... -How to strike a balance between the fine art and the nitty-gritty science of reading the body... -Whether you need to be concerned exposure to excessive bluetooth or wifi radiation from self-quantification devices... -And much more... Resources from this episode: -Mounir Zok's LinkedIn page -Flexible electronics -Mounir's video about sports technology -The Halo neuroscience device Do you have questions, comments or feedback for Dr. Zok or me? Leave your thoughts at BenGreenfieldFitness.com and one of us will reply!

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