Cutting-edge prosthesis are amazing, but they lack one very important feature: a sense of touch. Now a research team from Stanford University has developed artificial skin that can sense force exerted by objects—and then transmit those sensory signals to brain cells.
Swiss researchers have achieved a major breakthrough in the development of bioengineered skin. The new grafts, which are about to undergo clinical trials, work a lot like the real thing — because they actually contain functioning blood vessels and lymph capillaries.
Scientists have created a paper-thin flexible "skin" that can detect pressure that's a few hundred times lighter than a gentle touch. This new material could eventually make its way into artificial or robotic limbs — but for now researchers have found that it is absolutely amazing at reading a pulse.
By using a nano-sized 3D array, scientists have created "smart skin" that accurately mimics the sense of touch. It could eventually be used in robotics, human-computer interfaces, and advanced prosthetic devices.
In Patrick Süskind's 1985 novel Perfume, a psychotic perfumer goes to murderous lengths to create the ultimate scent. He kills a young woman to incorporate her natural smell into his latest cologne - and he is himself later ripped apart by people driven into a state of bloodlust by the power of his creations. But the…