Trending Now
Scientists are figuring out how to harness electricity from your skin’s melanin, and, as a melanated person, IDK if this is good news or bad news.
A group of Italian scientists recently made a breakthrough that allows them to conduct electricity from eumelanin, the pigment that colors human skin, hair, and eyes. In its natural form, eumelanin conducts electricity, but not very efficiently – these scientists figured out a way to give it a boost.
The process is still very much in its early stages, and there are still challenges to figure out before it becomes applicable IRL. But eventually, this technology could help power bioelectronics, like medical implants, and lower the risk of rejection.
“This is the first [stepping] stone of a long process that now can start,” said Alessandro Pezzella, the University of Naples Federico II chemist who authored the study.
Meanwhile, I and my fellow brown-skinned people are, um, nervous.
Is it just us or does this sound like something from a dystopian sci-fi movie?
https://twitter.com/GregKCampbell/status/1111583304451608576
Because where are they gonna get all this melanin from, hmm?!
Some folks are already ready for a fight.
“Not if I electric shock they ass first,” one woman wrote.
“I got some electric for they ass,” another agreed.
On the other hand, some people are also thinking ahead about how to use this tech to their advantage.
“But in all seriousness, can I pay my light bill with this?”
Goooood question.
