19 comments

  • landgenoot 4 hours ago
    So just fill your skin with this ink and use a laser to print any pattern.

    Looking forward to see human ads

    • vasco 4 hours ago
      Plenty of monster drink tattoos around
  • riffraff 3 hours ago
    This is awesome and I hope it catches on, but the idea of "may be useful to people who want to conceal tattoos in some situations" seems far fetched, some make-up layer would probably be a simpler solution, wouldn't it?
    • Karrot_Kream 3 hours ago
      Hot springs and baths in parts of Japan deny entry to anyone with tattoos
      • computerfriend 2 hours ago
        Usually a bandage will suffice to cover it. Even for very tattooed people, can be quite liberal with it.
        • thaumasiotes 2 hours ago
          > Even for very tattooed people, can be quite liberal with it.

          Is this true for all heavily tattooed people, or are they more understanding if you're not Japanese?

          • computerfriend 2 hours ago
            In my anecdote, the tattooed person was Asian but non-Japanese. We did this several times, but of course it's still a small sample size, so take this with a pinch of salt.
      • duggan 2 hours ago
        Yeah, I guess now’s time to do the groundwork for building a tattoo empire in Japan.
  • Robdel12 4 hours ago
    > These dyes are encapsulated in nanoparticles of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) — a medical-grade, glass-like plastic that is already used in medical implants and dermal fillers

    Nano plastics? :p

    Still pretty neat. I like the example picture in the article too

  • teucris 7 hours ago
    Instead of focusing on tattoos, could we work on this being used for bistable displays, like e-ink but using light pulses to transition each pixel?
  • Retr0id 6 hours ago
    A cool concept, but regular daylight making it disappear again sounds pretty annoying.
  • qwertytyyuu 8 hours ago
    That is so cool. I wonder if this allows for printing images with some kind of 3d printer like thing with a weak uv laser
    • Bluestein 4 hours ago
      Got me in mind of the people nowadays "renting space" across their body - this would be an ultimate form ...
  • phyzome 6 hours ago
    Despite the limitations, that is dope as heck.
  • kreelman 6 hours ago
    I'll have to read up on this. I wonder about it as a kind of e-ink?

    I'm sure there are a bunch of differences, but fun to think about perhaps.

  • jogu 5 hours ago
    This probably has some cool applications for magicians to do unique tricks where certain things appear on their skin.
  • ShinyLeftPad 4 hours ago
    is someone bored and going around hn front page editing all the titles. This is the second post i see in the last hour or so that was changed to a worse title.
  • flir 5 hours ago
    Regardless of the actual tech here, "he turned his tattoos off" has "the door dilated" vibes. Very cool.
  • tiku 5 hours ago
    Why not have e-ink in your skin..
    • filcuk 5 hours ago
      Because skin is not just loosely hanging on but is attached to the tissue below.
  • silicon3383 7 hours ago
    Does it turn the lymphedema off too?
  • self_awareness 3 hours ago
    Lol. Allow to violently perforate your skin with a set of sharp needles to permanently inject a pigment that can be hidden.

    Just wear a baby skin sticker!

    • ragazzina 2 hours ago
      Most piercings fit your description.
      • self_awareness 2 hours ago
        Piercing is one big perforation.

        Tatoo is a process of continuous small perforations sometimes for many hours.

  • Razengan 6 hours ago
    An alternative to "customizable/dynamic fashion" like this would be tags/markers on people's clothes that are invisible to the naked eye but can be detected by AR glasses, making you appear to have different clothing, accessories, tattoos etc to people wearing those glasses.

    But man none of the major company execs have a hint about any of the cool applications of AR sigh

  • accountrequired 6 hours ago
    Johnny Mnemonic meets Blade Runner vibe: A duo is assigned to hunt a network of data smugglers who use "toggle tattoos" to transport encrypted secrets with zero knowledge. Starring Jason Statham and Liam Neeson. Brought to you by Carl's Jr.
  • delichon 7 hours ago
    Hear me out, implanted lie detectors with displays tattooed into the foreheads of politicians.
    • amateurCoder5 6 hours ago
      Simpler to just use a normal tattoo that says "LIE".
      • kavalg 3 hours ago
        You guys are so funny :)
      • Bluestein 4 hours ago
        Insert *obligatory* "mouth is moving..." joke :)
  • focusgroup0 8 hours ago
    [dead]
  • sleepyguy 8 hours ago
    Your auto-immune system does not like ink.
    • yahthatsart 7 hours ago
      You don't have an "auto-immune system". Auto-immune means your immune system is attacking your own healthy cells.

      Tattoos are fine. There's some evidence that maybe, maybe, immune system responses can be impacted by tattoos. But changes in immune system response does not necessarily mean impaired or negative.

      • pazimzadeh 4 hours ago
        kinda, but the system is not perfect.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoimmune_regulator

        oversimplifying but in every person there are tradeoffs about attacking things inside yourself (viruses, cancer, etc) and outside things (parasites, bacteria, etc) and your genetics influences this. See the old Th1/Th2 balance

        anyway it was probably a typo on his part, he's such a sleepy guy..

      • self_awareness 3 hours ago
        Thank you doctor Gray.
      • pestatije 1 hour ago
        how about allergies?...ive seen recent tatooees and that shit aint good man