Bulletproof…skin?

Will soldiers of the future eschew bulletproof vests for bulletproof skin?

Will Soldiers of the Future have Bulletproof Skin?

By integrating spider silk into human skin cells, researchers have developed human tissue that can withstand a bullet (okay, a bullet fired at half-speed). Still, it’s a pretty impressive achievement. Here’s more on this new bulletproof skin from New Scientist:

What if your skin could resist a speeding bullet? Now a new futuristic tissue designed by artist Jalila Essaïdi, which reinforces human skin cells with spider silk, can stop a whizzing projectile without being pierced. Although its threads may look fragile, a spider-silk weave is four times stronger than Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests.

…But its resistance has its limits: when shot at a full speed of 329 m/s, the bullet pierces the material and travels through it.

(See more on bulletproof skin at New Scientist)

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