Google is known first and foremost for being the world’s most popular search engine. It’s also known for its cloud storage, its mobile operating system and its browser, along with other tech products.

What it isn’t known for is its health research, and yet the technology giant has discreetly built a state-of-the-art research facility where more than 100 doctors and scientists are working on developing a proactive, preventative approach to health and medicine.

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Their first project, as Google X labs told The Atlantic, is creating a wristband that detects cancer cells. To do this, individuals would swallow a pill ‘twice a month’ containing nanoparticles. These nanoparticles would be designed to latch on to cancer particles as they moved through the body. A magnet attached to a wristband would then collect the nanoparticles in the arm, which could then be ‘asked’ what they contained.

So what does this have to do with skin?

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Well, in order to build a device that can detect light coming through these nanoparticles, scientists need to know exactly how light passes through skin. Google have therefore been using a mix of human and synthetic skin to see how the particles ‘perform’ in different people.

While for now Google are only in the experimental stage, the wristband is still an exciting idea.