Patches seem to be all the rage these days. There are birth control patches, nicotine patches, and transdermal medicinal patches, just to name a few. Now, a team of researchers led by Beomjoon Kim at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo have developed a patch of needles connected to a paper sensor for diagnosing conditions such as prediabetes. Luckily, this patch doesn't multiply the pain and discomfort of a single hypodermic needle. In fact, these microneedles are painless and biodegradable.