There's nothing worse than pulling off a bandaid, especially
when it yanks nearby hair out with it. Thankfully, researchers
have developed a new kind of medical tape that stays attached to
your skin, but can be removed without any pain or damage.
Biomedical Engineers from Harvard and MIT have been working with
the problem of medical tape. Not only does it hurt, but its
adhesive powers can actually damage skin and cause scars in
babies and the elderly. So, how do you create a tape that
doesn't hurt to pull off? You design it to separate somewhere
else. Traditionally, tapes have an adhesive layer that sticks
directly to the skin. That takes a lot of force to pull off. The
problem is that some people's skin is weaker than the glue, and
that leads to the expected problems. This new medical tape is
actually comprised of three layers rather than the traditional
two. There's an additional layer between the backing and the
adhesive. The materials are designed to be very strong against
shear forces, but peel off easil