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"To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer."
- Robert Heinlein
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| Diveskin | ||
| Special wetsuit that allows a diver to function at extreme depths. |
Most of the action in Starfish takes place much deeper in the ocean than a person could venture unprotected. Extremes of temperature and very high pressure would make it impossible. One of the technological adaptations is the skinsuit, a special form of wetsuit.
| She twists out of reach without a word, bending down to seal the [dive]skin on her leg. Fischer watches the leggings slide up her body. They seem almost alive. They are almost alive, he remembers. The 'skin's got these reflexes, changes its permeability and thermal conductivity in response to body temperature. Maintains, what's the word, homeostasis. |
| Technovelgy from Starfish,
by Peter Watts. Published by Tor Books in 1999 Additional resources -
|
It is made out of a copolymer that can withstand temperatures of 150 degrees centigrade.
The wetsuit, which the skinsuit is modeled on, was invented in the early 1950's. The basic idea is that a small amount of water is allowed into the suit, and is then trapped against the body; the neoprene insulates this warm layer. That's why a wetsuit has to be skin tight.
Compare to skin suit from Dinosaur Beach (1971) by Keith Laumer, transkin from Parasite Planet (1931), by Stanley G. Weinbaum, kloraderm from Old Man's War (2005), by John Scalzi and skintight from War Dogs (2014), by Greg Bear.
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Diveskin-related
news articles:
- Breathable Carbon Nanotube Membrane For 'Smart Uniforms'
| Is There A Subterranean Ocean? |
| The Robotic Shopping Cart Of The Future |
| Arctic Resource Jackpot An Old Wish |
| Marie Curie's Papers Still Radioactive |
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I'm hoping that this procedure becomes a normal part of medical practice!
'... nothing was perfected until M. Pantalon announced the completion of his automatic valet.'
'...its streets were of remarkable width, with few or no buildings so high as mosques, churches, State-offices, or palaces in Tellurian cities.'
'...it was all composed of tiny, identical cubes, carefully laid to form a tilelike surface.'
'He carried on his person a triggering mechanism sensitive to his heartbeat.'
'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
