Scientists believe they have found a way to make flesh transparent for a few minutes at a time.
By manipulating the way light passes through tissue, a team at the University of Texas in Austin has moved into what was once the realm of science fiction. Although the technique has yet to be tested on human skin, the engineers believe it could have applications in diagnosis, helping to reveal the extent of skin cancer, for example. By injecting various substances, the team made small areas of rat or hamster skin nearly transparent for 20 minutes or more. Light does not usually penetrate skin because it is scattered, like a torch beam in fog. Just as each water droplet in the fog scatters light, so small components of tissue also scatter light.