About six months, I did a story on bulletproof human skin, a transgenic art project created by Jalila Essaidi and the Forensic Genomics Consortium Netherlands.
But does it work? Tune into the testing phase at 3:00.
(Bullet-proof human skin video)
It turns out that their current implementation does not stop a full-seed bullet; however, it does stop a bullet at a lower speed.
As Achilles knows, it's important to have bulletproof skin all over, including your heels. Other (more recent) sfnal examples include skinweave from an old cyberpunk role-playing game, and this similar example from Sos the Rope by Piers Anthony:
"The surgeon placed flexible plastic panels under the skin of his belly and lower back, tough enough to halt the driven blade of a knife or sword."
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'