Last week's New Scientist had a special issue on "The Self", and one of the subjects it tackles is the way the mind human scopes out the extent of our own bodies. They cite an experiment in which the subject's own hand is obscured, and an artificial hand placed in front of them. When the two hands are simultaneously stroked, the sub-conscious mind decides that the visible, artificial hand is part of its own body. Even though the subject consciously knows the hand is false, s/he experiences stress if the artificial hand is threatened.

I find this of particular interest because nearly all my fictional stories include artificial breasts (called Bustlets), which incorporate a feature I call Sensotouch. With the use of touch-sensitive membranes, such as those used in smart phones and tablets, feeling is transferred from the outer skin of the breast to electrodes on the skin of the user, causing the user to 'feel' the breast as if it was his own (it's usually a male who wears these). The Hiplet, with its artificial vagina works in a similar way.

It seems that my stories predicted the results of the real life scientific experiments. Perhaps now, we might see some manufacturers attempting to include Sensotouch into their artificial breasts. I can't wait!