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."

One ste closer...

[stormi]

... to living forever!

Honestly though, as cool as it sounds, I can't help but wonder what adverse side effects there might be for some individuals.

Re:Burn victims

[john83]

Imagine how this could be applied to burn victims.

I don't think it's there yet. I'm not sure anything that uses solid epoxy resins as healing agents is likely to get FDA (or whatever the appropriate body is!) approval for use in people. In industry though... it could be very cool to have an aeroplane that could deal with a crack in the hull, or a spacecraft which could fill micrometeorite holes.

Re:Someone seems confused

[surfer.jam]

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.

The Possibilities...

[astapleton]

...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...

Stretch Man

[Derosian]

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.