Researchers at the University of Tokyo have invented an ultra-thin "E-skin" that can shield flexible electronics and make things like on-skin displays possible.

The research was published Friday in Science Advances.

Electronics have been fixed to the skin before or drawn on with conductive ink, but even substrates that are as thick as a millimeter have restricted flexibility. The research led by Takao Someya and Tomoyuki Yokota reduces that thickness by an order of magnitude.

The E-skin could be described as smart plastic wrap. The encrusted Silicon Oxynitrite and Parylene wall a super-thin substrate on which the team fixed similarly thin and flexible OLED displays and photosensitive diodes. The whole arrangement stretches and folds along with the skin, but is sealed sufficiently against the elements that it can last for days before botching.

In a news release accompanying the paper, Someya asks, "What would the world be like if we had displays that could adhere to our bodies and even show our emotions or level of stress or unease?"

But there are also several reasonable medical and consumer applications towards which research like this progresses.