Just Badass!

Scientists Make Bulletproof Skin

Science & Tech – As science progresses, technology becomes, well, more badass. Artist Jalila Essaidi and a team of scientists from the U.S., Germany, South Korea, and the Netherlands have collaboratively developed “bulletproof skin.” Like I said…Badass.

The magical armor is a synthesis of human skin cells and spider silk, a combination that, when mixed just right, is literally impenetrable by a speeding bullet. In order to create this wonder-material, the scientific team had to first create the fantastical silkworm-spider hybrid. After much experimentation, this nightmarish bug was refined to spin super-strong silk. The kind that catches bullets.

Originally Genghis Khan came up with this idea and Essaidi suggested that there was a method to his madness. The notorious emperor demanded his horsemen wear silk vests, “as an arrow hitting silk does not break it but ends up embedded in the flesh wrapped in silk.”

Spider silk is incredibly resilient, much more than the silkworm fibers that are found in casual garments. For some time now, scientists have been considering producing an artificial fiber with the same physical properties used in bulletproof vests.

In fact, in 1992 researcher Stephen Fossey explained that Kevlar, “can elongate up to 4 percent before breaking, while spider silk can stretch as much as 15 percent before breaking.”

Now, scientists have succeeded in producing these hybrid fibers through the means of “transplanting spider genes into silkworms.” It was Essaidi’s idea to take the fibers and implant the redeveloped silk layers into human skin cells, creating an ultra-strong, flexible, breathable, bulletproof skin.

Still badass. Creepy, but badass.

Read More at Global Post.