When we need medical treatment, we expect that any equipment used is going to work. But, shockingly, it has recently been discovered that some gadgets are less effective on people with darker skins.
For example, a pulse oximeter – a device which is put on the tip of the finger to measure oxygen levels – doesn’t work well on dark skins.
That’s because of how light is absorbed by the tissue in the finger. Dark skin absorbs more light, so the pulse oximeter will give a different result to that of a person who has light skin.
