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Mass-Producing Human Skin Just Got Cheaper

by Evan Shamoon on July 18, 2009 at 10:15 AM

In news that sounds much freakier than it actually is, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Science Institute in Germany has recently made great strides in improving the cost and speed of producing human skin.

We know. Just bear with us here.

According to Popular Science, the system is set to go on sale next year, and can produce "5,000 little swatches of human skin a month, for a total of over 600 square inches of mass-produced tissue." Each of these little bits would cost around $49 to produce, which is apparently far cheaper than current costs.

It's a fully automated, computer-controlled design: The skin grows in solution that is electronically monitored (for things like infection), and computers control the blade to cut perfectly sized swatches. Which would be perfect for creating androids... theoretically.

Fortunately, uses will instead range from reconstructive surgery for burn and accident victims, as well as replacing lab animals in product safety testing. So really, this is awesome news, even if it does mean the robot apocalypse is coming much sooner than expected.

Thanks, Germany. [From: Popular Science Via: Neatorama]

Tags: bioengineering, biology, futuretech, science, skin, top

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