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Self-Healing Plastic Skin
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists have developed a form of plastic skin that can heal itself when damaged. The material relies on an underlying network of vessels — similar to blood capillaries — that carry a healing agent to areas on the material's surface that sustain damage. Unlike previous self-healing systems that relied on capsules of agent buried in the polymer and which became depleted after one use, the new system can respond to damage at the same point many times over."
Plastic skin...
No big win.
A chiseled chin,
Flashy as Flynn:
Burma Shave
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
HAIL Joan Rivers!
Imagine how this could be applied to burn victims.
Or, on a more humerous note, Michael Jackson. Though I suppose there's no cure for wierdness.
This is a very good break through. With a material like this if it can be mass produced and make correctly we could see this in homes and cars as possible replacements for windows. Saying that if something broke a window it would just fix itself automatically. I assume the military will fine plenty of uses for this too. I noted that the main use they were talking about is related to space, which is great and could potentially saw millions on our various orbiters and probes where as if they are hit by debris in space they can repair themselves and save countless man hours and material in planning a mission to fix them.
Today's Tomorrow is Yesterday's Future! --- "Where Ever You Go, There You Are" -- Diablo 1
It's not a replacement for biological skin. According to the article it has applications in, eg, aeronautical applications where maintaining a seal is critical. You wouldn't consider an advance in paint or similar coatings to be immediately applicable to building a super body so you shouldn't be getting too excited by the use of the term "skin".
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Well, individuals who don't RTFA might end up sticking this stuff to themselves instead of using it in machinery or structures.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Well first, this isn't meant for biological applications. Second, if it were then I somehow doubt it would be *worse* than having *no skin at all*.
HELL, Burt Reynolds!
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
you shouldn't be getting too excited by the use of the term "skin".
Obviously you have high expectations for Slashdot.
For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
Medicine was not the first "healing agent." Our own body has agents, for instance, as the article stated, the capillaries in our blood, that heal our skin. The blood "oozes" out of the opening in our skin causing the capillaries to cover the injury and, after a long process, heal our skin. The "self-healing plastic 'skin'" is not a replacement for ours, but a material that attempts to imitate the processes our body uses to heal our skin.
We can do that live action version of The Polar Express
...are enormous.
1) A layer of self-healing plastic inside a space suit to seal off punctures before the astronaut loses too much air.
2) Same thing on a larger scale for boats - just make the plastic sensitive to direct contact to water.
3) Same thing on an even larger scale for planes, especially jetliners.
4) Same thing on the largest scale for shuttles, space stations and true spacecraft.
5) Plastic layers inside the seams and seals of a car so that water-immersed vehicles can slow water flow into a car long enough to increase the accident victim's chances of survival without preventing them from escaping a sinking vehicle.
6) Battlefield plastic skin bandages to protect a wound from further damage, cover and clean it, maintain pressure on the injury and encourage clotting at the wound site.
I could go on for a while on this, these being just the accident-oriented uses...
"Courage is being afraid to do the Right Thing, and doing it anyway."
Finally they can make a Stretch man that will be able to repair itself! Never again will we have to worry about the gooey insides coming out. Now we just need to find a way to keep the insides from hardening.
On a more serious note, this could easily be used as a combat suit, think of it as a tight suit that repairs itself. If you get stabbed the suit first protects you from the blade and covers up the wound protecting you from blood loss, I can think up hundreds of practical applications for this outside of the realm of combat too. Pressure sensitive equipment can self-repair, as well as if this material is a good insulator then it might be applicable to wiring.
...with more information, pictures, and a little video. Oh! And a link to a PDF of the actual article.
http://www.mvac.uiuc.edu/network.html
"Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself." -Richard Feynman