Ted Audio Collective. Welcome back to Ted Health. It's Dr. Shoshona Ungerlighter.

You know that sensation you get when you brush your hand against a velvet curtain. Imagine of that feeling,

the softness of fabric, the caress of a gentle breeze, or the light touch of a feather could be replicated by cutting edge technology.

This is the realm of material scientist Anna Maria Coaklete who stands on the verge of a monumental breakthrough with her work on artificial skin.

Anna Maria envisions a world where prosthetics could do more than just replace limbs.

What if they could allow people who've lost the sense of touch

to reclaim it?

What if they could even teach robots the subtleties of human touch?

In her 2022 TEDX Vienna talk, Anna Maria shares how she's evolving the possibilities

of artificial skin to where the lines between human and artificial touch merge seamlessly.

This isn't a distant dream, but a tangible future,

where the touch of technology brings life sensations back within reach. I'm Dr. Brian Goldman, host of the CBC podcast The Dose. Each week we answer health topics in a smart and sometimes

counterintuitive way you won't hear anywhere else. Like, what's the least amount of exercise I can do to get the benefits? Which

psychedelics can improve my mental health? And how can I check for cancer if I don't have a family

doctor? Top experts help me bring you what you need to know in plain language in about 20 minutes.

Find the dose on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcast.

I am a chemist by education and I worked in the

field of material science which is a very interdisciplinary field since almost 20 years

now. First as a PhD student in Italy in group leader in grads.

And it is almost six years that we are working

on artificial skins.

Almost 12 students between master and doctoral students have worked on these devices

...