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“Individually, these two things block most light from getting through them,” he said. “But when we put them together, we were able to achieve transparency of the mouse skin.”

Once the dye had completely diffused into the skin, the skin became transparent.

“It takes a few minutes for the transparency to appear,” Ou said. “It’s similar to the way a facial cream or mask works: The time needed depends on how fast the molecules diffuse into the skin.”

The team experimented with chicken breasts before conducting work on live animals.

In mice, the researchers were able to observe blood vessels directly in the surface of the brain through the transparent skin of the skull. The mice’s internal organs were visible in the abdomen as well as the muscle contractions that move food through the digestive tract.