What if you could rub a substance on the skin and see what's inside...

Anyone (old like me) remember the Visible Man and Visible Woman models? Maybe they weren't as far fetched as you might think...

Anyway, the substance is a common food dye: the one that gives Doritos their orange color...and the skin is on a mouse. Then, using light of a certain frequency, you can see through the skin to the underlying structures. 

There is a depth limitation of a few millimeters, but still...this opens up avenues for further research. Imagine Doctors could image internal structures without harmful radio-opaque dyes or radiation...and actually see blood coursing, etc. The future looks to be a cool place, if we don't eliminate the human race.

Take a look at the linked article. I can't reproduce the image there legally without paying, so...you'll have to click to see the laser speckle image. However, here's a video of the dye technique and results from The Guardian:

(credit The Guardian)

This is rather amazing, but honestly it hasn't been tested in people yet so please don't go and ruin your clothing and develop allergic rashes, etc. I don't want a bunch of irate mommies hunting me down because their kids are now yellow as are their clothing, etc.    

Links:

1. https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/sep/05/common-food-dye-found-to-make-skin-and-muscle-temporarily-transparent

2. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-02887-4?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=5768ff8509-nature-briefing-daily-20240906&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-5768ff8509-49361556