The Amazing Human Skin

The human skin is an amazing organ. It covers our whole body and it protect us from the elements. It also can adjust our temperature and keep out bacteria invasion. Most amazing is the self healing property.

- Apr. 2017

Our human skin has numerous properties. They are designed to protect us and to prevent diseases and it is soft and warm and pliable. Our skin can regulate or body temperature by the blood vessels. It can sweat to create cooling from evaporation. It is water proof and allow us to submerge in water. It has many layers that also protect us from the harming effects of UV. It does this with pigments which causes tanning of the skin and blocks out the harmful rays.

The most amazing property is the self healing aspect. When you get a cut and you bleed, our skin can heal itself after a few days, the cut is repaired and a scab is formed and within a few more days, the scab comes off and a new skin replaced the cut area. Within a month or so, even the scar disappears and you don't see any evidence of an injury.

As amazing as all that, there is even more amazing aspect of our skin. The inside of our mouth is coated with a different type of skin. It is moist and allows for lubrication at all times. When we get a cut or a sore in our mouth, it also heals. This healing is different than our external skin. When our skin is cut, we need to use antiseptic to make sure no infection takes place and we need to keep it dry for the skin to heal properly. In our mouth, since it is moist at all times, with our saliva, there are various bacteria present. However, these bacteria acts to protect our skin and keep out the bad bacteria that normally causes infections. How great is that? It also heals at a much faster rate than normal skin.

In recent development of AI and robotics, the natural question is how would a machine replicate this "skin". Most machines are made of metal and plastic and rubber and artificial materials. They will have to deal with similar issues as a human. When they get bruised or damaged, what can they do on their own? Is there a comparable material that will repair itself? We can imagine a type of metal with "memory" that can retain it's shape or form. It could restore its original shape having been deformed. However, that is not the same as repair. If a tear exist in the metal, it cannot repair itself at least not yet.

Artificial skin is being developed for human looking robots. It is an attempt to provide the look and texture of a human. It will not have any repair capability. I am not sure how long it can last. As with most non organic substance, it suffers from the law of entrophy. Everything will degrade with time. Living organism is the only thing that can defy entrophy.

Humans has a life span of about 80 years. This is a very long time. For most machines, a life of 30 years is already pushing the limits. Machines suffers from rust and wear and tear.

The various properties of our skin did not happen by accident. These properties insure our survival. I hope people take a moment to contemplate the significance of this.