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Electrified artificial skin can feel exactly where it is touched

By Leah Crane

21 January 2020

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

A gel that mimics skin has been electrified so that touch can be felt

Andrey Prokhorov/Getty Images

Electrified artificial skin made of strange orange jelly can tell when you are touching it and can heal itself. It could someday be used in prosthetics or to cover robots so that they can sense their surroundings.

Many different types of “e-skin” devices have been made that can be bent, stretched or attached to a person’s skin to generate power or detect their heart rate, for example. But these devices tend to be limited because they can usually only be made…

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