What if we could see through skin? Scientists have managed to do just that, by mixing a common yellow dye with water and applying it on living mice. They used the technique to peer through the skin on mouse skulls and abdomens, according to a report in Science.
The technique has potentially profound implications for medical imaging because it could provide less costly and more effective ways for doctors to see what’s going on in human tissue. The technique, while promising, has not yet been approved in humans.
Scientists Create See-Through Skin in Mice
While the effects of the water and dye combination look like a magic trick, some pretty basic physics explains how it works, says Zihao Ou, assistant professor of physics at the University of Texas at Dallas and the lead author of the study. It involves different substances’ abilities to either scatter or absorb light.
