And therein lies a story, which this column can only begin to skin open here.

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Calling my bluff, Ricardo navigated into a flat stretch of water and told me to check my skin for open cuts (piranha bait).

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The Boeing 737-300 in question was only 15 years old when its skin peeled open along a riveted lap-joint while flying above 34, 000 feet (just over 10, 000 metres) with 118 passengers on board.

ECONOMIST: Aircraft fatigue

Because of the risk of infection, there are potentially more problems associated with healing when a fracture is open to the skin.

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The bacteria are in the same family as the bacteria that cause cholera, and the victims apparently became infected through open cuts on their skin.

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Other factors may go into determining the aggressiveness of a melanoma, including whether the skin over the area has formed an open sore and how many dividing cancer cells are found when looking under a microscope.

CNN: Melanoma

And he hopes to be able to relay the signals wirelessly through a person's skull to a receiver implanted beneath skin on the head, eliminating the need for an open port into the brain.

FORBES: Technology

It caused her outer skin layer to deteriorate and burn off, leaving at least 60 percent of her body as an open wound.

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"It's the best way to get under the skin and become more knowledgeable about the capital's architecture, " explains Victoria Thornton, founding director of Open House.

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