New Skin? A Plastic That Heals Itself, Conducts Electricity, and is Sensitive To Touch
Skin is a material with astonishing capabilities: the flexible, waterproof layer constantly regenerates itself, heals itself after scratches and cuts, and, through its nerves, conducts electricity, relaying the sense of touch to the brain. Engineers have long been trying to come up with a synthetic polymer that does all those things, and does them under standard conditions rather than the carefully calibrated set-up of a lab. Now engineers have created a polymer with a combination of skin’s most elusive attributes that no polymer had achieved before: This new material, reported in Nature Nanotechnology, can conduct electricity and, when it is sliced open with a razor, can heal itself at room temperature.
The material can come back together thanks to the hydrogen bonds, which break and reform easily and reversibly, connecting its molecules. Due to the addition of nickel particles, it can also conduct electricity. The researchers found that after the material was cut open, it regained 90 percent of its electrical conductivity within 15 seconds. What’s more, the material’s electrical resistance changes in response to pressure—giving this synthetic skin what is, essentially, a sense of touch. The material may eventually be used to make touch-sensitive prosthetic limbs. Meanwhile, the resilient, conductive material should aid in the development of better on-skin electronic devices, such as wearable heart-rate monitors.
BBC, UK media told to shut up in the name of national security 2013 06 19 MoD serves news outlets with D notice over surveillance leaks
BBC and other media groups issued with D notice to limit publication of information that could ’jeopardise national security’
Defence officials issued a confidential D notice to the BBC and other media groups in an attempt to censor coverage of surveillance tactics employed by intelligence agencies in the UK and US.
Editors were ...
Uri Geller psychic spy? The spoon-bender’s secret life as a Mossad and CIA agent revealed 2013 06 19 A new documentary claims the showbiz psychic is involved in global espionage - and that after 9/11 he was ’reactivated’ as a pyschic spy.
We may know him for spoon bending antics and for his lengthy friendship with pop star Michael Jackson but showbiz psychic Uri Geller has seemingly had a lengthy second career as a secret agent for Mossad ...
Confirmed: 1-Billion-Year-Old Water Tastes ’Terrible’ 2013 06 19 Saltier than sea water and the consistency of "very light maple syrup." Yuck.
Last month, a paper published in Nature reported on some water that had been trapped 1.5 miles below the Earth’s surface in Canada for a long while. How long? Based on an analysis of the isotopes of natural gases in the water, scientists believe it to be ...
The Govt Is Spying on America with Drones, Too 2013 06 19 In an alarming but hardly shocking admission, FBI Director Robert Mueller confirmed that drones have been used to conduct surveillance in the US, though he was quick to reassure citizens that it was ’very seldom’.
He did not disclose the particulars of the surveillance to the Senate hearing being held on Wednesday (June 19, 2013), but went on to characterize ...
TWA Flight 800 Investigators Claim the Official Crash Story Is a Lie 2013 06 19
A new film claims the official government report on the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996 is an elaborate fabrication, but the most shocking part of the story is that charges are being leveled by some of the very investigators who put the report together. Six experts who appear in the film were members of the National Transportation Safety ...
BBC, UK media told to shut up in the name of national security
Uri Geller psychic spy? The spoon-bender’s secret life as a Mossad and CIA agent revealed 
Confirmed: 1-Billion-Year-Old Water Tastes ’Terrible’
The Govt Is Spying on America with Drones, Too
TWA Flight 800 Investigators Claim the Official Crash Story Is a Lie