- Engineer's Espresso
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- your old skin
your old skin
because the new one makes yours feel old
Happy Tuesday, folks!
Welcome to the rebranded and unapologetically nerdy This Week in Engineering (formerly Engineer’s Espresso).
Today's edition is an experimental run—let's see if engagement hits statistical significance to justify making it standard.
Let's dive in!
Picture this:
You're rock climbing, showing off to your date.
Suddenly, you slip and scrape your arm against the wall.
Ouch.
But instead of bleeding, your skin... glows for a second and then looks good as new?
Sounds unreal?
Researchers at the Terasaki Institute just made e-skin that heals itself in 10 seconds.
Yup, not hours. Seconds.
UMMM, DO I REMOVE MY SKIN AND REPLACE IT WITH E-SKIN?
No, lol.
Think of this as a band-aid with the sensors of an Apple Watch, but the accuracy of hospital-grade sensors. It sticks to your skin and looks just like a band-aid
What’s the deal?
1. Material: The E-Skin uses thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) laced with bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) disulfide.
Translation: hydrogen bonds and disulfide linkages let it “stitch” itself back together faster than you can say "oxidized espresso machine"
2. AI (not just a word used for the sake of it): Embedded silver nanowires and a convolutional neural network (CNN) analyze muscle signals to detect fatigue with 95% accuracy.
Imagine your Fitbit yelling, “Bro, stop bench-pressing! Your biceps are crying!”
3. Extreme Survivor: Works from -20°C (Antarctica mode) to 60°C (Death Valley core) and survives underwater.
Perfect for polar explorers or that one engineer who showers with their Apple Watch.
Why am I fanboying?
⦁ Industrial Athletes: Construction workers could wear this to monitor muscle strain in real time, reducing injuries. Think of it as a physiotherapist tattooed on your arm.
⦁ Rehab Revolution: Stroke patients could track muscle recovery millisecond-by-millisecond.
⦁ Sensor Density FTW: 23 sensors packed into a patch thinner than a coffee filter.
Not yet convinced?
For prosthetics and human-machine interfaces, understanding how E-skin compares to human skin is crucial for seamless integration and user comfort.
But I think they need to design it well.
So far we’ve been doing polls.
But now let’s change things up.
Today’s quiz, is a simulation.
You've just been hired by FutureTech Inc. to design the next-gen E-Skin wearable. But there's a catch – you need to balance three key factors:
1. Healing Speed (1-10 points)
2. Sensor Density (1-10 points)
3. Battery Life (1-10 points)
The Rules:
⦁ You have 15 points to distribute among the three factors.
⦁ No single factor can be higher than 8 or lower than 2.
⦁ Whole numbers only!
Your Mission: Create the most balanced E-Skin design possible.
Will you prioritize lightning-fast healing, or pack in more sensors at the cost of battery life?
Bonus Question: What unique application would you target with your specific E-Skin configuration?
How to Play: Reply to this email with your point distribution and bonus answer.
The most creative (and technically feasible) designs will be featured in next week's newsletter!
Example:
Healing Speed: 5
Sensor Density: 6
Battery Life: 4
Bonus: Deep-sea exploration suit that monitors diver health and adapts to crushing pressures!
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FT Maintenance Engineer - Accor
Keeping hotels standing tall—one leaky pipe and stubborn elevator at a timeCivil Engineer - KPFF Consulting Engineers
Designing structures so solid, even your excuses won’t crack them.Roadway Engineer II - Parsons Corporation
Paving the way—literally—so your GPS doesn’t lead you into a lake.
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