Engineering

A sensor to detect human body conditions in real-time

DGIST announced that Professor Hyuk-Jun Kwon in the Department of Information and Communication Engineering developed a 'patch-based health diagnosis sensor system' that is easily attached to skin in association with Professor ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Robots with benefits: How sexbots are marketed as companions

When thinking of sexbots, companionship might not be the first word that comes to mind. But sexbot advertising promises more than sex toys. It is also selling emotional intimacy: robots marketed as if they are capable of ...

Engineering

Magnetic skin ensures the force is with you

Who has not unleashed their inner Jedi to use "the force" to open automatic doors at the shopping mall? A novel magnetic skin has been developed at KAUST that can remotely control switches and keyboards with the wave of a ...

Engineering

Team develops bimodal 'electronic skin'

Through the crafty use of magnetic fields, scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the Johannes Kepler University in Linz have developed the first electronic sensor that can simultaneously process ...

Engineering

Looking inside the body with indirect light

Light provides all our visual information, but it reaches our eyes in different ways. Direct light comes unperturbed, straight from the source, whereas indirect light bounces off different surfaces, such as walls or ceilings, ...

Engineering

Artificial skin creates first ticklish devices

A new interface developed by researchers in Bristol and Paris takes touch technology to the next level, by providing an artificial skin-like membrane for augmenting interactive devices such as phones, wearables or computers.

Robotics

Researchers build a soft robot with neurologic capabilities

In work that combines a deep understanding of the biology of soft-bodied animals such as earthworms with advances in materials and electronic technologies, researchers from the United States and China have developed a robotic ...

Robotics

Biologically-inspired skin improves robots' sensory abilities

Sensitive synthetic skin enables robots to sense their own bodies and surroundings—a crucial capability if they are to be in close contact with people. Inspired by human skin, a team at the Technical University of Munich ...

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Skin

The skin is the outer covering of the body. In humans, it is the largest organ of the integumentary system made up of multiple layers of mesodermal tissues, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs. Skin of a different nature exists in amphibians, reptiles, birds. Human skin is not unlike that of most other mammals except that it is not protected by a pelt and appears hairless though in fact nearly all human skin is covered with hair follicles. The adjective cutaneous literally means "of the skin" (from Latin cutis, skin).

Because it interfaces with the environment, skin plays a key role in protecting (the body) against pathogens and excessive water loss. Its other functions are insulation, temperature regulation, sensation, synthesis of vitamin D, and the protection of vitamin B folates. Severely damaged skin will try to heal by forming scar tissue. This is often discolored and depigmented.

In humans, skin pigmentation varies among populations, and skin type can range from dry to oily. Such skin variety provides a rich and diverse habit for bacteria which number roughly a 1000 species from 19 phyla.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA