In context: Traditional brain monitoring setups, known as electroencephalograms, are a bit of a hassle. They involve technicians using rulers and pencils to map out spots on your head, then gluing a bunch of electrodes across your scalp hooked up to a rat's nest of wires. It can take a couple of hours just to get you ready to start monitoring brain waves. Now, as reported by Live Science, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have developed a way to use temporary tattoos for recording brain activity to address all of these problems and it could shake up how we diagnose conditions like epilepsy and brain tumors. Instead of all that head mapping and electrode gluing, a robot printer simply jets out a conductive ink "tattoo" pattern onto your scalp.The process still takes an hour because the researchers have to make corrections for the person's head movements. However, they say that if it can be fully automated, it can be done in just 20 minutes.The ink dries into an ultra-thin film just 30 micrometers thick half the width of a hair. Tests run on five people with short hair revealed that even with that thinness, the e-tattoos can pick up brain signals just as well as standard bulky electrodes. Plus, while the old-school electrodes started losing adhesion after six hours, the e-tattoos stuck for over 24 hours.The advantages don't stop at easier setups, either. Since the conductive ink can be printed in thin hairline patterns, the team could use much shorter wiring to connect the e-tattoos to monitoring equipment.If you're wondering why anyone would want to get tattoos for just a few tests, well, they are temporary. They come off quite easily too all you have to use is an alcohol wipe or some shampoo. The researchers are also looking into formulas that won't rub off on pillows, which could allow overnight sleep monitoring. // Related StoriesWhile this first study just tested the concept on a handful of people, the researchers are eager to develop the tech further. Next up is checking how well it works for different hair types and lengths, as well as skin conditions. They'll also look at using it to monitor specific neurological disorders. Another idea under consideration is embedding tiny transmitters into the ink to make the tattoos fully wireless.The complete findings can be found in a new study published Monday in the journal Cell Biomaterials.Image credit: witchkingblogs