Usually you can’t get away from the fact that you have to get stitches for surgical incisions and deeper cuts, and medical researchers have been obsessed with finding alternatives, especially in the form of nanofibre bandages.

A group of scientists at the University of Maryland have developed a method of applying a coating of 370 nanometer-wide biodegradable fibres to close and protect wounds using a standard airbrush machine.

The application of nanofibres has always had one problem, in that their applications would damage skin cells, but this method, according to Chemical and Engineering News, goes on without any hazards since acetone required to make the polymer nanofibre sprayable evaporates before making contact with biological surfaces.

So far tests on sealing diaphragm hernias, surgical incisions in the lung and intestine, and the liver of a pig have all shown successes, with the fibre decaying safely in 42 days.

Source: The Verge