L'Oréal, probably one of the most ruthless cosmetic companies in the usage of animals for research, is also (unsurprisingly) one of the most cutting-edge. their latest development is the SkinChip sensor, which is based on the biometric fingerprint recognition technology. it can capture an image of the skin's surface in 500 dpi and visualize a map of its dryness, as in this image. check out their other research projects, including skin reconstruction in vitro. [via]