Artificial skin can’t dodge the human touch

September 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists claim to have unravelled the mystery surrounding the developmental origin of specialized skin cells involved in touch sensation. Merkel cells are neuroendocrine cells that reside in the vertebrate epidermis, passing mechanical stimuli on to sensory neurons.

September 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Vikas Nanda, a scientist of Indian origin, has won the prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's New Innovator Award this year. Dr. Nanda is assistant professor of biochemistry and a member of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

September 10th, 2009 LONDON - The first robotic hand to give amputees a sense of touch has been created by Swedish scientists. When pressed against an object the 40 sensors in the Smarthand get activated.

August 1st, 2009 LONDON - Parents of a one-year-old baby girl have to give her a date-rape drug to ease her from the pain caused by a rare skin disease, which makes her skin as fragile as a butterfly's wing. Isla Grist's skin starts to blister and bleed with the slightest touch and she screams in pain when her bandages are changed.

July 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Instead of batteries, artificial muscles driving robots or prosthetic limbs might soon be powered by a kind of alcohol that can make people blind, say researchers. "You can imagine robotic soldiers fighting ahead of human soldiers and getting a drink of alcohol to fight on," Live Science quoted materials scientist, Ray Baughman director of the University of Texas at Dallas NanoTech Institute as saying.

June 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - While animal drug trials have been facing huge criticism from ethical groups, scientists have now created artificial organs like liver, skin, intestine and windpipe that may revolutionise the way new medicines are being tested. Developed by Professor Heike Mertsching of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart, in collaboration with Dr.

June 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An American study has confirmed that light touch-the sense that lets musicians find the right notes on a keyboard, a seamstress revel in the feel of cool silk, the artisan feel a curve in material and the blind read Braille-depends upon the activity of Merkel cells, which are found in the crescent-shaped clusters in the skin. "Human, primates and any animal that relies on hands for dexterity use their Merkel cells to feel texture and shape.

June 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists, using a new analytical method, have been able to demonstrate the presence of several artificial sweeteners in waste water in Germany. The method, which simultaneously extracts and analyses seven commonly used artificial sweeteners, was developed by Marco Scheurer, Heinz-Jurgen Brauch and Frank Thomas Lange from the Water Technology Center in Karlsruhe, Germany.

May 15th, 2009 LONDON - All Professional Cricketers Association's (PCA) members will be screened for skin cancer for the first time. According to a BBC report, the union has organized the programme after one in seven county players were referred to specialists when potential melanomas were found during check-ups.

May 11th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists have stretched slivers of skin to twice their size in a week using a robotic bioreactor that is akin to a medieval rack, a technique that could increase the size, viability and availability of skin grafts for treating burns and wounds. At present, skin grafts can be expanded by making cuts in them to create a mesh, or by inserting balloons under the graft once it has been attached to the body.

May 6th, 2009 LONDON - Get ready for getting an artificial tan that won't leave you with a body odour, thanks to the new Aromaguard technology that chemically neutralises self-tanning lotion's nasty smell. A research team led by Tim Whiteley of CPL Aromas in Bishop's Stortford, UK, used established techniques called headspace and thermal desorption analysis to capture odour molecules from the air, as self tan was applied to various skin types.

April 15th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy have found out why touching the skin relieves pain. The researchers have revealed that the skin has specialised nerve fibres called called CT nerves (C-tactile), which travel directly to the areas in the brain that are important in the emergence of feelings.

April 13th, 2009 LONDON - What makes a mother's touch so comforting for her children? Well, scientists now have an answer to this question. A team of experts from the Unilever company, the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and the University of North Carolina have identified a class of nerve fibres in the skin which specifically send pleasure messages.

March 18th, 2009 LONDON - Even months after being in the womb, a baby's skin is unmatched for smoothness, thanks to vernix caseosa (VC), which covers the foetus and the newborn and aids in the growth of skin both before and after birth. Now scientists know why.

January 28th, 2009 LONDON - After her successful stint in the movies and television, American actress and supermodel Brooke Shields is now the new face of Coppertone's NutraShield Dual Defense sunscreen. 'The Blue Lagoon' star will represent the brand's latest sunscreen lotion enriched with antioxidants that promote natural skin repair and combat premature skin aging from the sun, reports people.co.uk.