A Japanese cosmetics company yesterday unveiled what it said was the world’s first spray-on skin, a moisturizing facial mask made of fibers one-100th the thickness of a human hair.
‘GREENHOUSE’
After applying an absorbent lotion, users spray the fibers onto their face and a thin translucent sheet is quickly formed, acting as a “greenhouse” for the real skin below to soak up the moisture and still be able to breathe.
The “second skin” can be worn overnight or peeled off after about a minute.
“This is the world’s first cosmetic product using such technology,” said Masayuki Uchiyama, skincare researcher at Kao Corp, the firm behind the innovation.
The hand-held diffuser was 10 years in the making, said Uchiyama, who added: “We struggled to make the device small.”
Kao researchers did not initially think of using the technology of ultra-thin fibers to create a layer on the skin, he said, adding that the precise material from which they were made was a secret.
“But we learned that the skin can still breathe under the thin fibers for many hours” in an environment akin to a greenhouse.
HIGH PRICE
Such cutting-edge tech does not come cheap though, with each diffuser costing ￥50,000 (US$460).
Nevertheless, Kao predicts cosmetic sales could reach ￥100 billion if the technology is applied to the medical field.
MEDICAL POTENTIAL
Uchiyama said it could be used to cover scars or to create an invisible medical patch.
Similar technologies already exist, including those using cells or polymer, but Uchiyama said Kao’s technology is different.
“Ours is focused on fibers. They’re more flexible and hard to break even if you move,” he said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
RSS