Spray-on Skin.

If you scrape your knee while rollerblading or skateboarding, you may soon forget about Band-Aids and reach for a can of spray-on skin. Researchers at Electrosols, a biotechnology company (uses living things to make products) in Oxford, England, have developed a medicinal spray that covers wounds and acts like new skin. The result: rapid, scar-free healing.

How can a spray prevent scars? Typically, a minor cut damages two layers of skin. The outermost layer, the epidermis, is a network of cells that form a paperthin barrier against germs. Below the epidermis lies the dermis, a thicker skin-cell layer made of collagen, a tightly woven web of stringy protein fibers. Collagen creates a solid base on which new epidermis cells grow.

When you damage the dermis, your body rushes to make more collagen fibers. But instead of producing a strong web, the body whips up a quickfix: a loose network of thinly woven fibers. Epidermis cells that form on this makeshift collagen web are paler and less flexible. Outcome: scar tissue.

Spray-on skin aids in the production of collagen, letting the body produce tough webbing after a cut. But though the spray seems promising, some researchers have their doubts. "It sounds cool, but I need to see more testing on humans to make sure it works," says surgeon Bruce Martin at the University of Florida. In the meantime, to avoid gnarly scars get out those kneepads!