Chemists concoct nail polish that lets clawed humans use touch screens

An undergraduate chemistry researcher has developed a nail polish formulation that will let people use their nails to tap away on touch screens. Capacitive touchscreens use weak electrical fields across their screens that respond when an electrically conductive object, like the skin of a finger or a stylus, disrupts that field …

[milliemoo83]

Long nails

Perfect for resistive touchscreens.

[Red Sceptic]

From my own observations, people with long fingernails seem quite adept at developing ways of operating touch screens of many kinds without too many problems. Sure, it may not *look* pretty, and the "tap-tap" sound can be (to me) a little annoying, but this doesn't look like quite the big problem that Desai and Lawrence make out. But if they can make some money out of it, why not?

[segfault188]

They still look goofy

Yep, that description nailed it.

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

Knuckles unknown?

Why not use the major finger knuckle? OK, for unklocking you may still have to use your finger if you insist on fingerprint, but for the rest...

I, quite often, use the knuckle on my middle finger on touch screens. Especially those which need more force.

[cyberdemon]

Re: Knuckles unknown?

I always knew you were a knuckle-dragger ;)

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Knuckles unknown?

If they really need force several knuckles migh be OK but a hammer is better.

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

Re: Knuckles unknown?

But only if you attach a 9v battery to it. Else it will keep on ignoring you until the very end. Of the device I hope.

[MachDiamond]

Hmm, I'm not used to seeing fems with really long nails doing any actual work. Solution looking for a problem?

[sabroni]

I'm not used to seeing fems

Fems? Female Humanoids?

I think the word you're looking for is women.

Female humanoids implies that you don't think they are human beings.

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

"Hmm, I'm not used to seeing fems with really long nails doing any actual work"

Come to our labs and see some of my women colleagues with long nails working there, operating equipment with touch screen interfaces.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh dear

you would not last 5 minutes in my office. There are ten of us developers, eight are women and most have acrylic nails. They all do productive work.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Gene editing

Splice some feline genes to make the finger nails behave like claws, only in reverse, normally extended, retractable on demand.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: Gene editing

"Splice some feline genes" … into human females?

Clearly you haven't thought that one through. "Make the finger nails behave like claws."

In these benighted times do we need more nightmares?

The Sisters of Plenitude from New Earth (Dr Who) had exactly these kind of claws and to round out the horror, were nuns too.

On a lighter side her indoors who never had long fingernails once asked me quite innocently when the shopping malls exploded with manicure parlours "How do they clean their botties?" Lacking any direct insight, I replied "Carefully I would think."

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Gene editing

Or, pick their noses? Though I suspect, given their vanity, they pick their noses from a catalogue

[Dagg]

Re: Gene editing

"How do they clean their botties?"

Remember the fat slags in Viz, one of the strips had the one with short nails cleaning the bottie of the one with the long nails. Problem solved.

[The Organ Grinder's Monkey]

Re: Gene editing

Upvote for the Fat Slags reference.

[AMBxx]

Easy solution

Just make little conductive tips. Think Fingerbobs.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Just run a conductor down the nail.

A lot of the longer nails are artificial (glued on) anyway so embedding a metallic conductor in the nail's matrix wouldn't be exactly rocket science.

I am surprised that a conductive metallic lacquer that could be used as an undercoat to normal nail polish hasn't already surfaced.

Electroplating or electrotyping a layer of silver or gold on to the nail might be a possibility.

These days tablets and phones with stylii aren't uncommon and at least in the case of tablets not always expensive.

[sindrelspec]

Unforeseen uses?

This sounds like one of those developments that is not particularly popular for its original purpose, but has some huge unforeseen benefit in a manufacturing process. Probably a good idea they are patenting it.

[Doctor Syntax]

Solving a long-solved problem

Conductive paint is still on the market.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Re: Solving a long-solved problem

To put an IT angle on it, in the (pre-DCC) Hornby "ZERO 1" digital control system from the late'70s, the locomotive modules were coded using conductive paint

https://www.trainshop.co.uk/blog/post/744-what-is-the-hornby-zero-one-system.html

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

Re: Solving a long-solved problem

You mean, like how I unlocked some of my AMD CPUs back in the days? I still think conductive paint is cool, and I still have never had another use for it :D.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Solving a long-solved problem

Also repair of damaged PCB traces.

[Dagg]

Re: Solving a long-solved problem

And back window defrosters...

[Jou (Mxyzptlk)]

Re: Solving a long-solved problem

Oh, thanks for reminding me! The upper-most trace seems to be broken. But I guess my old conductive paint from "back in those days" is probably dried out now, no matter how good I closed it after use...

No need to hurry though, northern hemisphere, summer time...

[AMBxx]

Re: Solving a long-solved problem

Not so good for the front window demister

[nonpc]

I always wonder how they manage to wipe their rrrrrs. Carefully I expect.