Sometimes, when you are curious about where the world is heading, asking an expert is the worst thing you can do. Experts know too much. They know the pitfalls and roadblocks with an intimate, hands on knowledge, and they will brook no backchat as to what can and can't be done.

Often, they are correct in their ingrained assumptions. But sometimes a new technique just drops on them out of the blue, transplanted from a totally different field. Thousands of man-hours of painstaking effort are credited to their account. I love when that happens. Here's a case in point.

Using old, modified printers, a group of university researchers is developing a way to make sheets of human skin that can be applied to burns. The "skin-printing" method aims to produce a sturdier skin than the currently used skin-graft method, minimizing postoperative complications.

Thanks go to the invaluable Roland Piquepaille for pointing this out. I hope it surpasses expectation. It's cute.