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Harvard University has removed the binding of human skin from a 19th Century book kept in its library. Des Destinées de l'Ame (Destinies of the Soul) has been housed at Houghton Library since the 1930s. In 2014, scientists determined that the material it was bound with was in fact human skin. But the university has now announced it has removed the binding "due to the ethically fraught nature of the book's origins and subsequent history". Des Destinées de l'Ame is a meditation on the soul and life after death, written by Arsène Houssaye in the mid-1880s. He is said to...

NASA says that astronauts can be exposed to doses of radiation ranging from 50 to 2,000 Milli-Sieverts (mSv). Researchers already know that melanin has potential to protect astronauts from radiation. But there are different types of melanins. The one being tested on the ISS is actually a composite of fungal melanin and polymers. The lead researcher on that work is Radamés J.B. Cordero from Johns Hopkins. But this new research is going in a slightly different direction, by looking at melanin enriched with selenium. Selenium has an interesting relationship with light, and is used as a pigment, in glassmaking, in...

Photo credit: Denni ScnappFleaScienceSummary Cat fleas can survive and reproduce on a diet of human blood alone. However, in normal settings they don’t live or breed on humans. Females must feed freely for many hours to be able reproduce on humans. This doesn’t happen outside of laboratories.Survival Cat fleas can survive solely on a diet of human blood. They’re capable of living for 139 to 185 days if fed on human arms for 15 minutes each day.2 10 minute feeding intervals can keep females alive for up to 30 days, and males for 17 days.1 In a recent study,...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Brown University’s library boasts an unusual anatomy book. Tanned and polished to a smooth golden brown, its cover looks and feels no different from any other fine leather. But here’s its secret: the book is bound in human skin. A number of prestigious libraries—including Harvard University’s—have such books in their collections. While the idea of making leather from human skin seems bizarre and cruel today, it was not uncommon in centuries past, said Laura Hartman, a rare book cataloger at the National Library of Medicine in Maryland and author of a paper on the subject. An...

Boffins develop human skin printer By Lester Haines Published Friday 21st January 2005 14:58 GMT Scientists at Manchester University have built a printer which can output human skin suitable for grafts, the Manchester News reports.The device uses human cells suspended in a solution which are printed onto a plastic matrix. It works in the same way as an ink-jet printer and is capable of producing made-to-measure strips of skin ready for grafting. The plastic matrix is designed to dissolve after attachment to the patient. Although several rival teams are working on similar projects around the globe, lead boffin Professor Brian...