1 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,680 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and my name is Julie Douglas. 4 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,799 Speaker 1: And we're talking about skin today, the skin that we 5 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: live in, the skin that covers our bodies, that is 6 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 1: our bodies. Yeah, you know, I've been wanting to tell 7 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: you this for a long time, and we've been podcasting 8 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:30,040 Speaker 1: now for what like a year and a half or so, 9 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: so I feel like I could finally tell you. Okay, 10 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: let me, let me have your epiderms is showing. We 11 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: were just talking about this. This is this is the 12 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: popular second grade, third grade joke. I guess you've got 13 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: or one person comes to this is epidermousis showing and 14 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: it sounds dirty or or oh what's happening something on 15 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: zip to it. It's just just my skin And that's 16 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,959 Speaker 1: the punchline. Oh but everyone's skin is showing right right right. 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: And here's the thing though, that that's that's the deal 18 00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: about skin. It seems not too exciting, the thing that 19 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: gets overlooked a punchline, but it's amazing stuff. And and 20 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:06,480 Speaker 1: as you all can tell, we are going to talk 21 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,279 Speaker 1: about this today. Yeah, so people probably heard this fact before, 22 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:12,559 Speaker 1: but it is in fact the largest organ human body. 23 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:14,960 Speaker 1: If you ever gone to a trivia night somewhere, they've 24 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 1: probably thrown that one out. It's a favorite on the 25 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,039 Speaker 1: trivia circuit. If you were to stretch out the average 26 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,520 Speaker 1: adult skin, it would cover twenty two square feet two 27 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: square meters and it's a little bigger than a twin bed, 28 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: and it would weigh about eight pounds. That sounds a 29 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: little horrific. It sounds a little like Buffalo Bill Signs 30 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: of the Lamps if you were to stretch it out. 31 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: But yes, if if you were teaching my favorite at 32 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: least favorite skinners in fiction, like Buffalo Bill. There's a 33 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 1: there's a fabulous or horrifying character in Larry McMurtry's Comanche 34 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: Moon who skins people. There is a terrifying skinning sequence 35 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,600 Speaker 1: in Murakami's which one was not the wind Up Yeah, yeah, 36 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: it is the wind Up Bird Chronicle. There's a Mongolian 37 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: flair that plays a man alive, and of course fans 38 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: of the Game of Throne series know the Bolton Clan 39 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: rather well, it's a horrifying thing to anticipate. One more 40 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: Evil Willow from Buffy someone who who does she get 41 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: does somebody that someone who did something to her? Lady out? 42 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes, that sin. Yeah, but obviously this was 43 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 1: a very dramatic moment. So yeah, we're gonna talk about that. 44 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about invistration. So much is just this 45 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: thing that we're wearing on us. Just flavoring the horror 46 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: of being skinned kind of drives home just how important 47 00:02:28,120 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: it is. It is the surface level of our being. 48 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: It is the layer with which we sense the world 49 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: around us. It is the layer that carries their physical identity, 50 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: and we tend to have a really hard time living 51 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: without it. Oh yeah, we'd be using all over. But yeah, 52 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:43,959 Speaker 1: I mean it's pretty important. We clean it, we decorate it, 53 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: we stretch it and pull it and pierce it. And 54 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,360 Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven, here's a nice start, eleven 55 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 1: point seven million Americans underwent some sort of cosmetic procedure botox, 56 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: filler surgery, so on. That is a four hundred and 57 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: fifty seven percent increase from a decade earlier. So we're 58 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: pretty concerned about how we are portraying our skin to 59 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: the world. And that's not counting tattooing, right, No, exactly exactly. 60 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: There's a lot associated with this. There's ego, there's beauty, 61 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,760 Speaker 1: there's ritual. And here's another little fact I wanted to 62 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: throw out. There are relative hairlessness is not something that 63 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:22,079 Speaker 1: is an adaptation of us wearing clothes or us having 64 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: descended from dolphins. It's a it's more to do with 65 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: our abundance of sweat glands. So that's why we are 66 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: the hairless wonders that we are. Some are the hairless wonders, yeah, 67 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: someone others Like I was watching an older film where 68 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: they had medallions the other day, and I was thinking, Oh, 69 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: if the medallion comes back as a male fashion accessory, 70 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: they're going to be a number of guys out there 71 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,160 Speaker 1: who are not who are going to lack the prominent 72 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: chest hair required to prominently display said medallion. And I 73 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: was wondering if there is a business opportunity there for 74 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: me in the marketing of I guess it would be 75 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: like a chess market or something, a chess market chess wig, 76 00:03:57,680 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: you know, because you don't want the medallion just said 77 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: in there, and I just I mean, this is a 78 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: good day. I'm going to say this right now, you know, 79 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: Merkan hasn't come up a long time in conversation, so 80 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:08,960 Speaker 1: the fact that you just brought it up, I really 81 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:10,839 Speaker 1: appreciate that. I'm sure there are other people out there 82 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: that you just got some marking points with there. We 83 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: are relatively careless, except for those who want to maybe 84 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:20,400 Speaker 1: go back to the seventies and wear medallions and put 85 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: a roguain on their chest. But let's just have a 86 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,640 Speaker 1: little overview of how this wonder skin works for us 87 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:28,839 Speaker 1: well and why at imports. As we mentioned before, you know, 88 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: without it, we would be using Clive Barkery horror shows. 89 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: And that's telling because the skin is a protective layer. 90 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:37,840 Speaker 1: You can think of it as the wall all right 91 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: inside all of our guts and our bones and all 92 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:42,479 Speaker 1: this is very important. But you can think of it 93 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: as like a medieval city. And we recently discussed the 94 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:47,799 Speaker 1: walls in an entire episode, and we discussed the importance 95 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,279 Speaker 1: of those walls surrounding that city to protect it from 96 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: marauders and invading armies and barbarians. Well, same deal with 97 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: the skin. The skin is there, this is the wall 98 00:04:57,279 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: around the city, and the white blood cells are the 99 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: soldier is manning that wall to fight off the bacterial 100 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,360 Speaker 1: invaders that would come in the first line of defense 101 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: on the epidermis right um. And the epidermis is also 102 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: helping to produce melanin, which we'll talk about in a 103 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 1: little bit, So we have a second line of defense. 104 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: This is the dermist. Yes, and this is like sort 105 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:22,360 Speaker 1: of the meat of the sandwich I think of it is, Yeah, 106 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 1: I think this is where you find blood vessels, is 107 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: full of collagen, which gives it the firmness that we 108 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: encounter with skin. And it's also where you'll find sweat 109 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 1: glands and the hair follicles. And it contains all these 110 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 1: nerve endings as well. That allows to feel sensations such 111 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: as heat, cold, and pain. And as we've discussed in 112 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: the past and discussing pain, when our pain sensation is 113 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,559 Speaker 1: working appropriately, it is an important warning sign that something 114 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,359 Speaker 1: is wrong, that something has pierced the defenses, that something 115 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: may pierce the defenses, that something may damage the walls 116 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: of our being. It also tells our immune system like, hey, 117 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:55,880 Speaker 1: by the way, we've got stuff going on, why don't 118 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:58,479 Speaker 1: you get into the action here. Because we tried to 119 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: vanquish this bacteria with our white blood cells, but you know, 120 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: possibly you should get in on the game as well, right, 121 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:06,719 Speaker 1: And those blood vessels also have an important role to 122 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:09,479 Speaker 1: play in regulating our body temperature. We touched on some 123 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,000 Speaker 1: of this when we were discussing the possibility and impossibility 124 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: of gigantic creatures, and that was one of the things 125 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: that came up and discussing like King Kong, is that 126 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: you have a body that big, you've got a cooler 127 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 1: body that big unregulated temperatures. So a blood vessels in 128 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: the skin contract and dilate depending on the outside temperature. 129 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: So when it's cold outside, blood vessels contract to keep 130 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: the blood near the surface of your skin from it 131 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: cooming too cool. And when it's hot outside, the same 132 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: vessels expand to encourage heat loss and you begin to sweat. Ah. 133 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: So that's what's keeping us all nice and comfortable. And 134 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,560 Speaker 1: then we have the hypodermis, which is just basically attaching 135 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: the skin to the bones and the muscles. Yeah, this 136 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: is the innermost layer and it's just the ground level 137 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:53,280 Speaker 1: of the skin. The tethering system. Yeah. Yeah, So our 138 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 1: skin has to do a couple of things. That has 139 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: to absorb enough ultra violet radiation from the sun to 140 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,599 Speaker 1: manufacture vitamin D. We your bodies really need to keep 141 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: our bones strong and healthy. So I forgot the white 142 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 1: blood cells are the soldiers manning the walls and the 143 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: sea bone. They're like the outside force that kind of 144 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: patrols right outside the gate. Our pores pump out this 145 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,640 Speaker 1: oily sea bone stuff, which is more difficult for bacteria 146 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: to penetrate. It's just another protective layer. It's a nice 147 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: little sheen on our skin. Yes, So it's doing all 148 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: sorts of things, and it is also using and harnessing 149 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: the power of the sun right to manufacture vitamin D. 150 00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: Keeping us healthy, also keep our immune systems in check, 151 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: and it protects us from the damage of too much 152 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: ultra violet radiation from the sun because if you get 153 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,920 Speaker 1: too much uvy radiation, that destroys something called full eight 154 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: and fullate is really important in terms of cell function 155 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: and cell reproduction. Fullate deficiency is actually linked to neural 156 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: tobe birth effects during pregnancy. That's why a lot of 157 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: pregnant women take supplements for it. But this is something 158 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: we're getting to you here, is this idea that our 159 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: skin isn't just a protective covering, making sure that our 160 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: organs don't fall out, but that there's other little nuanced 161 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: things going on at the level where melanin is produced. Yeah, 162 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: Melanine is a pigment that's produced in specialized skin cells 163 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: called care at incites. And the more melanine you have, 164 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: the darker your skin happens to be. So hormones and 165 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 1: genetics player role in this, and it and determines how 166 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: much a pigment our bodies will produce. And it also 167 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: explains the wide variety of skin tones that we have, 168 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,439 Speaker 1: Like you even have two siblings that share the same parents, 169 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 1: but they'll have slightly different skin tones going on or 170 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: sometimes not even so slight. And this is called the 171 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 1: biological adaptation. It's a trait that's evolved over time because 172 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: it increases the likelihood that that person will survive long 173 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: enough to produce. Professor and author Nina Jablonsky did a 174 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: great TED talk about the illusion of skin color, and 175 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: she talks about this fact that we are so connected 176 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:58,679 Speaker 1: to our early ancestors. We are connected by our DNA, 177 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: by our mitochondrial DNA, and yet we have these differences 178 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: in our skin pigmentation. And a lot of this seems 179 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: like yes, this all makes sense, but when she talks 180 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: about it in this way, it's really fascinating. She talks 181 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 1: about it by saying, let's look at what the earliest 182 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:19,079 Speaker 1: humans were dealing with in terms of their environment and 183 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:22,559 Speaker 1: why they had such a concentration of melanin in their skins. 184 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: They had evolved in high UV environments in equatorial Africa. 185 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: And again it's important to drive home again, melanin helps 186 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: absorb the harmful for violet rays of the sun, so 187 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:35,640 Speaker 1: light skinned people have a greater tendency to get sunburned 188 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: than dark skinned people, and that's where we also see 189 00:09:38,280 --> 00:09:40,839 Speaker 1: panning come into play, right, Right, so you think about 190 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,800 Speaker 1: melanin as a natural sunscreen, right, Yeah. And so we're 191 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,960 Speaker 1: looking back at this early environment on Earth and we 192 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: know that melanin has been in production for millions of years, 193 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,880 Speaker 1: and we've got the earliest humans hanging out near the 194 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: equator and that is being bombarded the atmosphere by uv B, 195 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:01,440 Speaker 1: UV A and UVC. Now UVC is pretty much sort 196 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,679 Speaker 1: of being filtered out in the atmosphere, but UVB and 197 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: uv A are really killing it. And v B can 198 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,199 Speaker 1: be really destructive. And yet it's also really important as 199 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:15,079 Speaker 1: we've talked about and producing are helping your skin to 200 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:18,559 Speaker 1: produce vitamin deed, especially when you're dealing with early civilizations 201 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,320 Speaker 1: where people are not working office jobs nine to five. 202 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: I mean, everyone is more or less out in the open. 203 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:26,680 Speaker 1: And if you're living in an area that's not, say, 204 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:29,560 Speaker 1: heavily wooded, that doesn't benefit from a lot of cloud cover, 205 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: then you're going to be absorbing this stuff on a 206 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: verily regular basis well. And in this small concentration of 207 00:10:35,880 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 1: area right like between tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, this 208 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: is where early man is setting up shop because most 209 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 1: of the rest of the earth is way too cold, 210 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: it's way too harsh. So yeah, you're gonna have to 211 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: be dealing with this environment in your skin is actually 212 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:55,320 Speaker 1: going to naturally select to pigment itself, to to create 213 00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: this sunscreen for itself. But Jabonski says, Okay, what happened 214 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:05,680 Speaker 1: is that we then have migration, yes, and humans dispersed 215 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: not once but twice major moves outside of our equatorial 216 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,040 Speaker 1: homeland from Africa and to other parts of the Old 217 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 1: World and then most recently in the New World. And 218 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: she says that when they were dispersed into these latitudes, 219 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,120 Speaker 1: conditions were significantly colder, of course, but they were also 220 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 1: less intense with respect to the ultra violet regime, as 221 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:28,559 Speaker 1: she calls it. So, over thousands of years, we see 222 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: individuals move from brighter, warmer climates to colder, darker climates, 223 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: and then over the course of say a single generation 224 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,360 Speaker 1: or even less, you will have this new migration where 225 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: someone will move from these darker, colder regions right back 226 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaker 1: to where they started from, more or less in terms 227 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,080 Speaker 1: of heat and light within just a few years. Yeah, So, 228 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you do have some of these 229 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: lands opening up as the climate warms, right, and it 230 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,840 Speaker 1: becomes possible to live in the northern climbs, and you 231 00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:00,480 Speaker 1: have dark skinned people who begin to adapt, as you say, 232 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: within generations to this, and they begin producing less melanin 233 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:08,280 Speaker 1: and become lighter skinned. And I just think it's fascinating 234 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 1: because this is the reason why we have this array 235 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:14,319 Speaker 1: of colors. And she makes this incredible point to Blonsky. 236 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 1: She says that we don't need a proof of concept 237 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: to explain evolution that is overly complex. She says, just 238 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: look at your skin and you can see the evidence 239 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: of natural selection at play. Yeah, it's pretty fascinating and 240 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: it really changes the way you look at different skin 241 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,440 Speaker 1: pigments among different racial groups that just based on where 242 00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:34,360 Speaker 1: they are in the world. Well, and I think that 243 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: it's given science and in particularly medicine a better understanding 244 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: of how our environment really affects our health. So if 245 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 1: you are someone who with light skin and you're living 246 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,959 Speaker 1: near the equator, then you have the very real possibility 247 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: that you're going to be deficient and in full eight, 248 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: and so you needed to take supplements for that. If 249 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: you're dark skin and you're living in extreme northern climbs, 250 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: then you're going to take vitamin D because you're not 251 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: gonna produce nearly enough from a week UVB coming through. 252 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: And there really a lot of us anyway in the 253 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:06,320 Speaker 1: modern world do not get in the vitamin D anyway 254 00:13:06,559 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: because we, like I said, wait, now, we're living these 255 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:11,840 Speaker 1: lives where we're inside for nine to five in many cases, 256 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: so we're not out in the open to receive that 257 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:16,440 Speaker 1: vitamin D in the quantities that we have evolved. Well. 258 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: In sunscreen, actually, I know that there have been some 259 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 1: studies about the deltarious effects of sunscreen on us in 260 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:27,560 Speaker 1: terms of our immune systems and vitamin D deficiencies and 261 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 1: even some of the things that have been cropping up, 262 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,240 Speaker 1: just things like allergies and kids, things that didn't used 263 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: to exist previous to like the nineteen seventies. Really because 264 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: we are slathing ourselves in sunscreen, which you have to 265 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 1: do it right, But again, if you were not really 266 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,640 Speaker 1: getting that exposure you need, then you can't synthesize vitamin 267 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 1: D for yourself. Yeah, it's like you're sort of damned 268 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:48,559 Speaker 1: if you did, damned if you don't. Right, it's like, 269 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: if I go out without sunscreen, I get burned. If 270 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:53,240 Speaker 1: I go out with sunscreen, then I need to take 271 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 1: vitamin D. So it's true. It's true. You know, I 272 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: think it's time to bring the sexy on in in 273 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: the form of the future of skin. But we've or 274 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 1: we do that, yes quick, all right, we're back. So 275 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: we've discussed skin, how it works, what it does, what 276 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:15,360 Speaker 1: kind of goes wrong with it as we drag it 277 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: into the modern age with us. But now we're gonna 278 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: drag it even farther into the future with us. We're 279 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: gonna take skin with us and try to imagine what 280 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: our skin is going to be like in the years 281 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: to come, all right, but this is really some very 282 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: cool stuff that's on the horizon here. And before we 283 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: go into that, I did want to mention that there 284 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:34,680 Speaker 1: is something that sounds futuristic that's already in playing. This 285 00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: is called spray on skin, and this is for burn victims. 286 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: So I've mentioned that because we're going to talk about 287 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: this stuff. And you may say, I don't know if 288 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: this is going to come to fruition, but things like 289 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:46,760 Speaker 1: spray on skin, or the skin gun as it's called, 290 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: also seemed like it might never come to fruition, and 291 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:52,200 Speaker 1: it certainly did. So what do we get here? Well, 292 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: on the and just on the subject of skin growing 293 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: and skin spraying, there's an interesting project from the front 294 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: Hopper Institute of Interface Engineering and Biotechnology. They have set 295 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,360 Speaker 1: up a new skin factory that can supposedly produce five 296 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:09,120 Speaker 1: thousand penny sized discs of whitish translucent skin every month, 297 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 1: and they can also do varying darker shades as well. 298 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 1: Robots control the skin growing process, monitoring the cell broth 299 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:20,240 Speaker 1: and carefully slicing swatches to prevent infection. So this is 300 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: the kind of thing we can and will use in 301 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 1: skin grass. You know, you have situations where someone has 302 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: lost skin, particularly to burns, and what do you have 303 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: to do. You have to get skin from elsewhere in 304 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: the body and move it forward. That's why my friend Oz, 305 00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:34,440 Speaker 1: who is shot with a flaming arrow when he was 306 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 1: a kid, because yeah, as kids do, and so he 307 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 1: has butt skin on his shoulder he's very proud of Yeah. Yeah, 308 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: I mean because a he has it, has a story 309 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: about being shot with a flaming arrow, which is which 310 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 1: is a pretty great story to have. And then he 311 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:53,520 Speaker 1: also has that you can talk about how it's his 312 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,280 Speaker 1: butt skin. But in other cases, skin is grafted from cadavers. 313 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,200 Speaker 1: Even so, in the best of circumstances that we're talking 314 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 1: about a complex procedure that would be better suited if 315 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,480 Speaker 1: we just had some newly fresh grown custom skin on 316 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:09,280 Speaker 1: right hand, and that one too, if I remember correctly, 317 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: they can actually add the pigment and they can change 318 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: the different colors of skin. There's also something using spider silk. Yeah, yeah, 319 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: the scientists in Germany are using spider silk as a biocompatible, 320 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: biodegradable adhesive matrix for skin repairfold. Yeah, we talked about scaffolding. 321 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 1: When we talked about growing organs, you really need some 322 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 1: sort of structure that's underlying all this. So they're using 323 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:38,320 Speaker 1: dragline silk from golden orb web spiders, and they wove 324 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 1: matrices on steel frames and seated them with fibroblasts which 325 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: provided the structural background for connective tissue. And then they 326 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:50,480 Speaker 1: added skin cell progenitors and we're able to cultivate synthetic skin. Again, 327 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:52,720 Speaker 1: that's the sort of broth that you were talking about, 328 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: and they were able to create dermis and epidermis, which 329 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: is amazing. Now, the drawback on that is it's going 330 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 1: to be really hard to harvest a lot of spider fibers, right, 331 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: So the idea is to take these spider webs and 332 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 1: then just sort of synthesize them and create, you know, 333 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:12,080 Speaker 1: something similar to to this natural structure. Didn't we engineer 334 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:15,919 Speaker 1: a goat that milks spiderweb or did I dream that? 335 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,360 Speaker 1: I'm gonna say it sounds a little surreal, a little dreamlight. 336 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: I believe this was a project that some scientists were 337 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,160 Speaker 1: working and I have to fact check that it's projects 338 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 1: like that that it could also be. You know, it's 339 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:29,680 Speaker 1: like we want spider webbing to serve as a scaffolding 340 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:31,760 Speaker 1: for these skin graphs. But if we could tinker with 341 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:35,360 Speaker 1: another animal to produce the spider like a goat produces 342 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:37,400 Speaker 1: spider web that has then used to grow human skin. 343 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:40,160 Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's kind of beautiful cycle of life. 344 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:44,560 Speaker 1: Matt our producer disagreed with that that's possible. I think. 345 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:46,159 Speaker 1: I think that if that's in your head, that that 346 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: is real, then there is somewhere. But then there are 347 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:51,560 Speaker 1: also a number of more techie skin things that are 348 00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 1: out there developing. For instance, MT engineers have built nanoparticle 349 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: tattoos and these are designed to help diabetics continuously monitor 350 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,560 Speaker 1: glucose levels, and this flows in with some of the 351 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: technology we were discussing in our contact lenses of the 352 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,199 Speaker 1: gods article. The idea that you would have these a 353 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: little receptors and nanotechnology in the lens that could interact 354 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: with the fluids on the surface of your eye and 355 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:15,160 Speaker 1: then could signal you if something was up. Similar situation 356 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: with the tattoos. You could have a tattoo in place, 357 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:21,359 Speaker 1: and you could have fluorescent dyes and sensor molecules that 358 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: bind certain chemicals, and then you could flash the multiviolent 359 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:27,560 Speaker 1: light on it, and you could attact what is actually 360 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: going on inside you. If you're having a right you 361 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,560 Speaker 1: can have an iPhone app that would send that information 362 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 1: to a computer to be analyzed. Yeah. I know. It 363 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 1: could be used to test for things like, you know, 364 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: to help diabetics monitor GOOGLESE levels and things of that nature. Yeah. 365 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: There's also something that's really cool and it is a 366 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: peelable electronic circuit skin put. No, no, no, not skin put. 367 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:49,400 Speaker 1: That's a different one. I'm jumping ahead. The skin puts 368 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: really cool too, though, But that can be rubbed onto 369 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:54,160 Speaker 1: the skin just like a temporary tattoo, and the small 370 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: circuits can bend and stretch with the skin, and the 371 00:18:56,680 --> 00:19:00,440 Speaker 1: semiconductor circuits could be used to monitor muscle activity, hard activity, 372 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:03,159 Speaker 1: or even brain waves. And you get it off just 373 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,200 Speaker 1: as you would temporary tattoo. You just kind of rub 374 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,399 Speaker 1: it off a little soap and water. Yeah, so almost 375 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:11,359 Speaker 1: like a patch, except even less intrusive. Yeah, but you 376 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:15,400 Speaker 1: mentioned skin put that I am the most excited about. Yeah. 377 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:18,119 Speaker 1: That's the project created at Carnegie mill And University and 378 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,440 Speaker 1: Microsoft Research. And it turns your arm or or I 379 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:24,720 Speaker 1: don't know, your back, I mean, but really anythings on 380 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:27,480 Speaker 1: the table I guess into a touch screen. So in 381 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:29,160 Speaker 1: the case of your hand, you have a small arm 382 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: band and a user would project an information display onto 383 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: the skin, so it would be you know, projection of 384 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: say a keyboard or some sort of input display, and 385 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,600 Speaker 1: you would press the skin like you would an iPhone 386 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: or any other touch screen. And the arm band contains 387 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 1: an acoustic sensor that uses the tissue density and other 388 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,440 Speaker 1: biometric data to determine where you've tapped, So it's projecting 389 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:54,639 Speaker 1: this little keyboard onto your hand, and then the band 390 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: would also detect where you're touching on that keyboard where 391 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: you're on yourself. So if you think bluetooth, if you 392 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: think that made everybody look insane, just wait until we 393 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,120 Speaker 1: get this little keyboards on our skin and we all 394 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:11,639 Speaker 1: are poking ourselves. You know that the early adopters, at 395 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:13,639 Speaker 1: least I like the idea of that using other people's 396 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 1: backs for it, you know, because it kind of plays 397 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:17,600 Speaker 1: with the whole deal You've seen in TV shows where 398 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 1: somebody needs to sign a paper and they would have 399 00:20:19,119 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 1: the person in front of them lean over so they 400 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: could sign on their back. Well, and I can see 401 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,359 Speaker 1: that like a cheesy like sitcom plot point to take 402 00:20:25,400 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 1: your shirt off so I can use your back is 403 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:29,040 Speaker 1: I don't know, you know what I'm saying. I don't 404 00:20:29,040 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: know it went somewhere. I didn't mean for it to go, 405 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: but technology always does. It does exactly. So what about 406 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,360 Speaker 1: our robot friends like Arnie? What what sort of skin 407 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: tents can we create for them? Oh? Yeah, there are 408 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:44,400 Speaker 1: some products that are looking into the possibility of robot skin, 409 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 1: which sounds very terminator ask at first. As a kid, 410 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,240 Speaker 1: I always found that fascinating how the Terminator he has 411 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,880 Speaker 1: his end of skeleton that is robotic, and then he's 412 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:57,440 Speaker 1: covered in human skin, this living human tissue because he's 413 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:02,119 Speaker 1: disguising and because whatever they're weirdo time travel system you 414 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: can only send a living thing back in time or something. 415 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:06,360 Speaker 1: But I always found it interesting to think, well, how 416 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: does that skin behave, how is it working? How is 417 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 1: it jiving with that robot underneath it. One of the 418 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:14,720 Speaker 1: big things would be that the skin is this layer 419 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,159 Speaker 1: of sense. It allows us to touch things and feel 420 00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: the environment around us. So while we're not necessarily looking 421 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: to grow Arnold Schwarzenegger's skin around all of our robots. 422 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 1: The idea of creating a skin like barrier, the skin 423 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:31,159 Speaker 1: like layer that is used to sense the world, that 424 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:34,159 Speaker 1: is very much on robotist minds. Okay, well, let me 425 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,360 Speaker 1: describe something to you that is extremely rudimentary version of that. 426 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,280 Speaker 1: Like I even sort of see it as like a 427 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 1: metal robot, like squirted with do Okay. Basically, a team 428 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:48,160 Speaker 1: of researchers at pit University may predictions regarding the behavior 429 00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: of Belosov zabatanski z gel. And that's a material that 430 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: was first fabricated in the late nineties and is shown 431 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:00,359 Speaker 1: to pulsate in the absence of any external stimmy lie. 432 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:04,720 Speaker 1: In fact, under certain conditions, the gel can sit in 433 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 1: a petri dish and resembles a beating heart. So there's 434 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:12,240 Speaker 1: a little creepy element. And that's without scimuli. Yes, okay, 435 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:17,320 Speaker 1: so it needs stimuli to stop the pain. This sounds 436 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:21,200 Speaker 1: like a great I was about to say, it seems 437 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:24,640 Speaker 1: like you're going there with a plotline. So Annabellas, she's 438 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,000 Speaker 1: the Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and Pits 439 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:31,440 Speaker 1: Swanson School of Engineering, says, think of it like human skin, 440 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,159 Speaker 1: which can provide signals to the brain that something on 441 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: the body is deformed or hurt. The gel has numerous 442 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 1: far reaching applications, such as artificial skin that could be sensory, 443 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: which she says is the holy grail in robotics. You 444 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:49,399 Speaker 1: throw in haptic technology for virtual reality environments and the 445 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: applications there become obvious as well. We're sending, say a 446 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:55,439 Speaker 1: robotic pro about to another world, and we want to 447 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: sense that world as we would sense it there physically. 448 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 1: Didn't makes sense to have that kind of technology involved 449 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,120 Speaker 1: with the robot that we sent. Well, I was thinking 450 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: about that too in the context of the virtual sex 451 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,840 Speaker 1: episode that we did, especially with another little technology here 452 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:16,480 Speaker 1: or big technology is stretchable electronics. Yeah, and this electronic 453 00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,480 Speaker 1: skin could bring touch sensitivity to machine. So this is 454 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:20,959 Speaker 1: a more well, I think if it is a more 455 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:24,679 Speaker 1: sophisticated version. So the gentlest pressure that human skin can 456 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:28,919 Speaker 1: detect is about one kilopascal, but a stretchable skin can 457 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 1: actually detect pressures that are one thousand times more gentle, 458 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: like a ghost sneezing on you. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Uh. 459 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,880 Speaker 1: It's based on organic transistors. It's made of electric elect 460 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,920 Speaker 1: elastic sorry material sandwich between two electrodes, and it's a 461 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,200 Speaker 1: highly sensitive surface that could help robots pick up delicate 462 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: objects without breaking them. When delicate objects, I think means 463 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:56,840 Speaker 1: us right in the future. We've talked about that too. 464 00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 1: Give prosthetics a sense of touch, which would be super cool, 465 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,920 Speaker 1: and give surgeons find or control over tools for minimally 466 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,159 Speaker 1: invasive surgery. Well, there you have it. The future of 467 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:10,359 Speaker 1: skin is bright, full of that grown custom skin pulsating 468 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,280 Speaker 1: pulsating gel that we're spraying onto our robots. It's going 469 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:16,840 Speaker 1: to be an amazing time to live in. HM. Let's 470 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,200 Speaker 1: check in with our skinless robots, shall we. Yeah? Yeah, 471 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 1: Let's get some listener mail. All right, here's one we 472 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 1: received from our listeners. Scott. Scott writes in and says, hey, guys, 473 00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: I stumbled across your podcast a few weeks ago, and 474 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,439 Speaker 1: I've been greedily gobbling up episodes ever since. I just 475 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 1: listened to the Lucid Dreaming episode and I wanted to 476 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,520 Speaker 1: share some of my experiences with lucid dreaming. When I 477 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: first started working on the night shift as an r ND, 478 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:40,840 Speaker 1: I would have extremely vivid lucid dreams almost every time 479 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: I slept. I really enjoyed my experiences while lucid dreaming, 480 00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: and although I could never exercise complete control over the 481 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 1: dream environment, I could usually do things like fly, teleport 482 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 1: through walls, and breathe underwater. Somewhat less enjoyable were the 483 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:56,960 Speaker 1: episodes of false awakenings that I begin to have after 484 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,680 Speaker 1: especially stressful days. I would quote unquote way Cup lying 485 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,879 Speaker 1: in my bed, and then I would slowly realize that 486 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:04,919 Speaker 1: I was still dreaming. I did some research, and I 487 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,840 Speaker 1: found some reality checks that came in Handing jumping or 488 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: skipping seemed to work especially well for me. If I 489 00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 1: was dreaming, I would leap in slow motion. If I 490 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,600 Speaker 1: wasn't dreaming, I would just feel a little silly. The 491 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: false awakening got a little unnerving when I begin having 492 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: as many as eight of them in a row. However, 493 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 1: false awakenings did help me learn how to recognize dreams, 494 00:25:23,640 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: and now I have lucid dreams about three times a week. 495 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,440 Speaker 1: Thanks for the great podcast, Keep up the good work. 496 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:31,680 Speaker 1: And then he also adds, Julie, have you noticed any 497 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,400 Speaker 1: limits on your control of your lucid dreams? For instance, 498 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:36,439 Speaker 1: when I fly in my dreams, I find that I 499 00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: usually can't fly any higher than the tree tops. Can 500 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:46,920 Speaker 1: you fly? Oh I can? I can fly pretty well. 501 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:48,639 Speaker 1: It's one of I thought it was so interesting that 502 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:52,959 Speaker 1: he brought that up because it it's variable, like it's 503 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:55,120 Speaker 1: so mental because I can get up really really really 504 00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: high and see sort of like what you would think 505 00:25:57,480 --> 00:26:00,639 Speaker 1: of as like not the view of a state, that 506 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: particular geographical area. But it takes so much effort to 507 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: try to keep going higher and higher because I find 508 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,639 Speaker 1: that I keep dropping in my dreams, and then I 509 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,640 Speaker 1: have to get myself back up again. So it sort 510 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 1: of depends on what I'm doing. If I'm just flying 511 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: down the sidewalk looking in shop windows and I need 512 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:19,679 Speaker 1: to get so high. On a related note to the dreaming, 513 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:21,480 Speaker 1: last night was the first night that I tried out 514 00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:25,440 Speaker 1: this app on my iPhone called dream On like dream 515 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: cooling on. The way it supposedly works is that you 516 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 1: turn it on when you go to bed, you haven't 517 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:32,480 Speaker 1: plugged into the wall, and you have it laying face 518 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,200 Speaker 1: down on the bed next to you, like at the 519 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,680 Speaker 1: corner of the bed, and then it will detect your 520 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,200 Speaker 1: motions like you can supposed to tell how much you're 521 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,760 Speaker 1: moving around, and then it can figure out when you're 522 00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: in deep sleep based on your lack of motion, and 523 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,640 Speaker 1: you can have it play a preset sound to let 524 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: you know that this is the time when you should 525 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,080 Speaker 1: be dreaming. If not alert you into a lucid state, 526 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 1: then at least color your dreams with some sort of 527 00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,159 Speaker 1: a soundscape that sounds like the beginnings of what we 528 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 1: talked about the Aldge study right where they were talking 529 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,879 Speaker 1: about trying to influence your dreams and give you a 530 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,439 Speaker 1: nice dream. Yeah, and the the app had some sort of 531 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,359 Speaker 1: dream journal apparatus as well, because the people who made 532 00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 1: it want to sort of keep track on how people 533 00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:16,720 Speaker 1: are using it and what effect is having. I did 534 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,119 Speaker 1: not have any good experiences with it last night because 535 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,680 Speaker 1: the cat was very vocal about becoming an indoor cat. 536 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: Did you dream of a goat producing spider whip milk? No? 537 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: I dreamed a vote cat that was shut up for 538 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,440 Speaker 1: an hour straight so I could sleep. That then turned 539 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,159 Speaker 1: into a goat. Yeah, But I'm gonna keep trying it 540 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:35,800 Speaker 1: out and see if it does anything for me. It's 541 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: a free download if anyone else wants to try it. 542 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,560 Speaker 1: There are some like in app purchases if you want 543 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:41,800 Speaker 1: to get like different sounds, but you can use it 544 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,679 Speaker 1: as is, and you can incorporate your own music tracks 545 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: off your phone without any kind of interventional price. So 546 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,639 Speaker 1: if anyone else wants to try it out, let me know. 547 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,320 Speaker 1: I would love to hear what your experiences are with it, 548 00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:56,040 Speaker 1: and hopefully I'll have some sort of noteworthy dreaming experience 549 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:58,159 Speaker 1: within myself. I like this your collecting data, now, aren't you. 550 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 1: How do you get in touch with us? Well, you 551 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,399 Speaker 1: can find us on Facebook. As always, we are stuff 552 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,880 Speaker 1: to blow your mind on there, and you can also 553 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,160 Speaker 1: find us on Twitter, where our Twitter handle is blow 554 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:11,119 Speaker 1: the Mind one word, and you can also drop us 555 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:18,159 Speaker 1: a line at blow the Mind at discovery dot com. 556 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,720 Speaker 1: For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit 557 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com