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Scientists Have Now Developed
Artificial Skin to Help
Human Regain Their
Sense of Touch
This is how one can perceive the
distinctions in different kinds of
environmental fluctuations by the
use of silicone skin.
Leaving the Limitations
of Human Senses Behind
T
he flow of electric current
generating iron oxide
nanoparticles in silicone is the
new big thing in tissue engineering
in replacement of the human skin.
According to findings from the
researchers at the University of
Connecticut, this artificial skin looks
promising as a skin substitution
material. The researchers, in a new
paper in Advanced Materials, have
described a new sensor implanted
in a layer of silicone skin that will
enable burn victims regain their
sense of touch a bit and confer some
interesting superhuman sensory
perception as well.
Using Paramagnetic
Iron-Oxide
Nanoparticles
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Chemists Islam Mosa and James
Rusling, from the University of
Connecticut, have worked with
march 2019
engineer Abdelsalam Ahmed of the
University of Toronto to develop
a mechanism that can create a
sensation resembling the way
human skin feels heat or cold,
pressure or vibration, and other
physical changes.
The concept used by the researchers
to replicate the way our skin reacts
to the changes in the environment
was to use silicone tubes and fill
them with a fluid made of iron-
oxide nanoparticles all wrapped
up in a copper wire. The fluid
while undergoing any movement
rubs up against the silicone to
create an electrical current which
is picked up by the copper wire
as an electrical signal. Moreover,
different factors result in different
perceptions, i.e. each variation in
pressure, heat, sound and vibration
produces a unique movement of
the fluid leading to unique signals.
The human skin is capable of
recognising the environmental
conditions with its complex
mechanism, but it has certain
limitations. There are many other
things that the human skin is
incapable of sensing. Therefore,
Mosa hopes to develop a new sensor
that could go beyond the limitations
of the human skin instead of just
mimicking it. He said, “It would be
very cool if it had abilities human
skin does not; for example, the ability
to detect magnetic fields, sound
waves, and abnormal behaviours.”
The team found out that the
fluid responded in a different
way around the presence of
magnetic fields altering the way
in which it moved thus making it
distinguishable from pressure or
sound. This resulted in opening up
of a possibility where industrial
workers working around powerful
magnetic fields can have an early
warning mechanism. Adding more
to its warning mechanism, the skin
is waterproof too. Moving forward,
the researchers are next hoping to
develop a flat profile for the skin in
order to make it more like real skin
and test it against heat and cold,
though they expect to see a response
from both, given the impact
temperature has on fluid dynamics
and electrical conductivity.
SR