Electronic Skin Lets Humans Feel What Robots Do–And Vice Versa

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July 05, 2022

Dear Reader, Human skin excels at detecting and responding to the outside world. That's why researchers have spent decades trying to replicate its abilities in "electronic skin" that could be used to coat robots or better connect people to their wearable devices. Now new advances in stretchable materials and shrinking electronics are bringing robotic skin closer to reality.

Sophie Bushwick, Associate Editor, Technology

Biotech Electronic Skin Lets Humans Feel What Robots Do--And Vice Versa An integration of soft materials, sensors and flexible electronics is bringing robotic "skin" closer than ever to reality By Fionna M. D. Samuels

Culture How Indigenous Groups Are Using 3-D Technology to Preserve Ancient Practices To safeguard fragile cultural objects, some groups are replicating them with digital models By Rachel Parsons

Artificial Intelligence We Asked GPT-3 to Write an Academic Paper about Itself.--Then We Tried to Get It Published An artificially intelligent first author presents many ethical questions—and could upend the publishing process By Almira Osmanovic Thunström

Artificial Intelligence Who Is Liable when AI Kills? We need to change rules and institutions while still promoting innovation to protect people from faulty AI By George Maliha,Ravi B. Parikh

Politics Evidence Shouldn't Be Optional This Supreme Court often ignores science when handing down decisions, and it affects far too many lives By The Editors

Renewable Energy We Need to Make 'Electrifying Everything' Easier Incentives and remodeling need to be more straightforward and equitable if we expect people to convert their homes away from fossil fuels By The Editors

Health Care Marker Tip--Without Ink!--Makes a Hardy Medical Sampler The marker material conserved samples for up to a week By Maddie Bender

Space Exploration Record-Breaking Voyager Spacecraft Begin to Power Down The pioneering probes are still running after nearly 45 years in space, but they will soon lose some of their instruments By Tim Folger

Weather How Connected Cars Can Map Urban Heat Islands Crowdsourced vehicle data trace the contours of dangerous city temperatures By Rachel Berkowitz

FROM THE STORE Revolutions in Science Normally science proceeds in incremental steps, but sometimes a discovery is so profound that it causes a paradigm shift. This eBook is a collection of articles about those kinds of advances, including revolutionary discoveries about the origin of life, theories of learning, formation of the solar system and more. *Editor's Note: Revolutions in Science was originally published as a Collector's Edition. The eBook adaptation contains all of the articles, but some of the artwork has been removed to optimize viewing on mobile devices.

QUOTE OF THE DAY "They take off into the sky in perfect synchronization. Once they're about 50 feet up, their lights change to different colors of the rainbow and float around to form different shapes in midair." Matt Bloom, NPR

FROM THE ARCHIVE 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: July 2022 Count women as workers; cement from sewage By Mark Fischetti | July 2022

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