The Brief

Mad-scientist kind of moments happen fairly often for nanoengineer Carson Bruns. A few months ago in his lab at the University of Colorado-Boulder, he tested his latest invention on his own arm and asked a colleague for help.

“We were like, ‘OK, we’re going to tattoo ourselves. Can you help us today?’” he said.

The tattoo is like a freckle, a little blue dot. But he can turn it on and off. Like the way a mood ring changes color with temperature, this tattoo changes with light: Ultraviolet light to turn it on, daylight (or even a flashlight) to turn it off.

“You can go to court and turn it off, and then go to the party and turn it on. And then go to Grandma’s house and turn it off,” said Bruns, who is affiliated with the university’s ATLAS Institute, which prides itself on fostering out-of-the-box ideas.

Bruns started a company with tattoo-artist-to-the-stars Keith “Bang Bang” McCurdy, along with a former doctoral student. Early next year, they plan to release their first product, Magic Ink, to a group of handpicked artists. The business partners have long-term hopes for smart tattoos that have a health value, but cosmetics are cheaper and simpler to get to consumers than medical devices. So, that’s where they’re starting.

The new ink will enter a market in a moment of flux for the regulation of cosmetics. The FDA steps in to urge a recall if an ink causes a bacterial outbreak but traditionally has not exercised its regulatory might over tattoo ink products as it does with other products that go into the body. (Tattoo inks don’t even have to be sterile.) But following the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022, the FDA is expanding its authority over tattoo manufacturers. The agency is now accepting comments on draft guidance about tattoo ink preparation.

Carson Bruns demonstrates how to turn his tattoo on and off: UV light turns it on; a regular flashlight turns it off.

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Rae Ellen Bichell

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KFF Health News

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“To be honest with you, I don’t think either the FDA or the tattoo ink industry really knows what that’s going to look like,” said John Swierk, a chemist at the State University of New York-Binghamton. But, he said, the law does mean “the FDA has a new charge to really ensure that labeling is correct and good manufacturing practices are being followed.”

Bruns said Magic Ink is made of particles of dye, encased in beads of plexiglass — the same polymethyl methacrylate material in those dermal fillers people use to plump their lips. Dermal fillers are FDA-approved, whereas tattoo ink contents can be like a black box.

Swierk said many of the tattoo pigments in use now have been around a long time, which gives some users a base comfort level about their safety. But a new material comes with new unknowns.

“If somebody is going to get tattooed with Magic Ink, they have to accept a degree of uncertainty about what the future is going to hold with that ink,” Swierk said.

A series of tattoo inks change color with exposure to UV light.

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Rae Ellen Bichell

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KFF Health News

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It’s $100 for a half-ounce bottle. That’s a lot more than regular ink costs. If the product takes off, the University of Colorado-Boulder will also benefit, as it owns the intellectual property.

Bang Bang is among a few dozen people, many of them tattoo artists, who are already wearing the ink in their skin.

Tattoo artist Selina Medina has been in the business more than 20 years and used to work for an ink manufacturer. She spends a lot of time advocating for tattoo safety, volunteering with several national and international groups focused on the issue.

“I’d probably give it a year in the market before I would buy it. But it does look really interesting,” said Medina, who is on the board of directors for the Alliance of Professional Tattooists.

Medina hopes this ink is different from the UV inks she saw pop up in the 2000s, which would glow under a black light.

“It seemed like an awesome idea, but then we noticed that it faded really fast,” she said. “It would just disappear. We didn’t know what it did. We didn’t know where it went. And that was just kind of like, ‘What the hell is this stuff?’”

She expects her customers will be clamoring for Magic Ink before she’s ready to purchase it.

Looking further afield, some companies are already investing in technology embedded in the skin. A European company called DSruptive makes injectable thermometers. It said about 5,000 people — living primarily in Sweden, Japan, the U.S., and the United Kingdom — have had the devices installed. Ali Yetisen, an engineer at Imperial College London, said for companies eyeing tech embedded in the skin, diabetes is a big focus.

“That’s where the money is. Most companies invest in this area,” said Yetisen. The dream is to create something like a tattoo that could measure blood sugar in real time, and be long-lasting, he said.

“That’s the holy grail of all medical diagnostics,” he said.

While Bruns’ inventions sense external factors like light and radiation, for manufacturers looking to develop in-body tech that reacts to the blood, there are other scientific hurdles. The immune system forms little shells around foreign bodies, effectively putting up a wall between a sensor and the blood.

No one has really figured a way around that yet, said Yetisen, but a lot of people are trying.

Celebrity tattoo artist Keith “Bang Bang” McCurdy shows a small red heart tattoo created with Magic Ink.

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Jorge Torres

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Inglewood Mayor James Butts didn’t show up to The LA Local’s mayoral candidate forum Wednesday night, but the five candidates challenging his bid for reelection weren’t shy about criticizing his 15-year tenure at the city’s helm.

Mayoral candidates Raina Carrillo, Fre’Drisha Dixon, Gloria Gray, Arturo Martinez and Joseph Soto all joined the forum and laid out their ideas about everything from housing affordability to traffic. 

The five challengers agreed on the need for term limits for city officials, a forensic audit of city finances and a change from 2 p.m. City Council meetings to a more publicly accessible evening slot. They lashed out at the city’s handling of Inglewood’s video billboards, the flagging Market Street commercial corridor and Bryan Bostic’s death in police custody during Butts’ time in office.

The LA Local invited Butts to attend the forum and held a chair open for him on stage throughout the event. A full video of the forum will be available online on Thursday. 

Voting has already begun in Inglewood and will continue until Nov. 3. The stakes are high amid an ongoing dispute between the city and its major venues, and stadium and billboard interests have already poured millions into the election.

LA Local reporter LaMonica Peters and youth journalist Lakshmi Leon moderated the forum, asking questions gathered from The LA Local’s community survey and from the more than 100 community members in the audience. 

Lead moderator, LaMonica Peters, left, reporter with The LA Local, and Lakshmi Leon, 17, student reporter and a junior at Inglewood High School, ask questions to the mayoral candidates during the Inglewood Mayoral Candidates Forum held at Inglewood High School.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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Nicole Sims was part of the audience in the auditorium of the former Morningside High School —  temporarily the home of Inglewood High School. 

The lifelong Inglewood resident said she hoped to hear ideas from the fresher faces in Inglewood politics, especially candidates who have come from the community and haven’t held elected office before.

“Just because someone has been in the office doesn’t mean they’re necessarily the best candidate to push the city forward,” Sims said. 

Jessica Foard, a teacher, said she had hoped Butts would attend the forum so she and Bostic’s family could ask questions about how the mayor has handled Bostic’s case, but wasn’t surprised he didn’t attend.

“He doesn’t feel like he needs to answer to anybody,” Foard said. 

Inglewood’s election season has been contentious as candidates spar with each other online and at city meetings, trading barbs and allegations of misconduct. 

Wednesday’s forum remained largely cordial. Dixon called out Gray twice, asking why she hasn’t pushed harder as a council member for more transparency or information about Bostic’s death. Gray rebutted that she’s been active about both issues within the constraints of her job. 

Central to the election is the city’s relationship with its crown jewel stadiums and fleet of video billboards, which collectively bring millions in revenue to the city’s budget and have changed the rhythm of daily life for residents. 

Candidates critiqued the city’s current financial arrangement with video billboard company WOW Media. They pitched a variety of solutions for the traffic jams and parking snags that are a feature of major events in the city, from barricading side streets to building an Elon Musk-inspired traffic tunnel.

Some took aim at the city’s parking permit program, which charges residents in some neighborhoods for extra streetside permits.

With new development continuing around Inglewood, the candidates proposed a range of housing affordability fixes from property tax relief to affordable dwelling units, or ADUs.

Chibby Azingee-Welton, of Inglewood, snaps her fingers in agreement at the Inglewood Mayoral Candidates Forum held at Inglewood High School on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Inglewood.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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Anil Raj, one of the attendees, said he was impressed with Dixon’s proposals and with the passion from Martinez and Soto. Gray, he said, seemed to represent Inglewood’s past. 

Inglewood’s mayoral election is a primary, meaning the top two vote-getters will move on to a runoff in the spring unless one gets more than half of votes cast by Nov. 3. Butts first needed a runoff to win office in 2011, but wrapped up dominant November wins in 2014, 2018 and 2022. 

Carrillo, Dixon and Soto have all made runs for mayor before. Gray, who is on the board of the West Basin Municipal Water District in addition to being a council member, is the only candidate besides Butts currently holding elected office.

Inglewood resident Sandra Jones said she hopes people will go vote.

“We can complain as citizens of this community,” Jones said, “but we actually need to get out and vote and make a change.”

Check out our voter guides

Inglewood’s ballot is packed beyond the mayor’s race with voters set to weigh in on two City Council members, three school board members and three ballot initiatives.

Check out The LA Local’s voter guides below: 

• Your LA Local Voter Guide: Inglewood Mayor 
• Your LA Local Voter Guide: Inglewood City Council 
• Your LA Local Voter Guide: Inglewood Board of Education 
• Your LA Local Voter Guide: Measure AT, the Ordinance to Amend the Admissions Tax for Large Venues
• Your LA Local Voter Guide: Measure BB, the Ordinance to Eliminate Advertising on Public Right-of-Way
• Your LA Local Voter Guide: Inglewood Unified School District Measure MM

The post Inglewood mayoral challengers weigh in on video billboards and transparency while Butts skips The LA Local’s candidate forum  appeared first on LA Local.

Construction workers, housekeepers and other laborers will have an opportunity to get free Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training from Oct. 13 through 16.

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network will facilitate the courses in Los Angeles, Palmdale, Riverside and at its headquarters in Pasadena.

Some courses provide general information, including how to prevent hazardous spills and other precautions. The courses are designed for people who work in a wide range of industries — from restaurant work to housekeeping. The other sessions are specifically geared at people who work in construction.

“ A lot of folks get picked up at either Home Depots or [street] corners, and sometimes they're not given the proper equipment to perform the work that they're being hired to do,” said Kenia Alcocer, lead organizer at NDLON. “ We don't want anyone to be injured or killed on the job.”

Amid the ongoing October heat wave, she added, NDLON staff have been doing outreach at local construction sites, encouraging day laborers to sign up for the training. More than a year after the Eaton Fire, construction workers continue to help families in Altadena and Pasadena rebuild their homes.