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.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
SK Hynix Inc warned of increased volatility in the second half of this year despite resilient demand for artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips from big tech providers, reflecting the uncertainty surrounding US tariffs. The company reported a better-than-projected 158 percent jump in March-quarter operating income, propelled in part by stockpiling ahead of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. SK Hynix stuck with a forecast for a doubling in demand for the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) essential to Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators, which in turn drive giant data centers built by the likes of Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc. That SK Hynix is maintaining its
RSS