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19 of 24 Credit: Avita Medical

1990s: Spray-on skin

Plastic surgeon Dr Fiona Wood was frustrated treating burns victims; the faster they can be treated, the less the chance of scarring — but sheets of skin tissue take 14-21 days to grow. Dr Wood also noticed that skin sheets with holes healed faster than the sheets that had more fully meshed, and so she conceived the idea of a skin spray. Made from the patient's own skin cells, the spray was used to impressive effect after the Bali bombings, but clinical trials are ongoing.