The layer is cured by exposure to ultraviolet light.
Playing with the layer is surprisingly addictive, mainly thanks to Google Earth's draggable interface.
The layer is designed to be applied in the morning, then peeled off and disposed of at night.
Unlike a heavy plug-in blanket, however, the layer is made so that wearers can't see or feel the conductors.
This process will be nearly complete by the time the layer is buried by five kilometres of overburden.
Accordingly, the pressure to which the layer is subjected increases because of the load on top, known as overburden.
D-glucarate, also found in the layer, is under study as a possible anticancer agent, particularly for hormone-sensitive tumors like breast and prostate cancer, he said.
Dr. Goodrich acknowledged that the layer is bitter and that "you might have to eat quite a lot of the stuff to get clinical effects".
The layer is called "collections" because the system collects and cross-links all references to any subject that the user specifies.
Aura will monitor the upper ozone layer, including seasonal "holes" that open over arctic areas, to see if the layer is recovering after a worldwide ban on ozone-depleting chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons.
"In this case the layer is above ground and not below where it should be" from an archaeological point of view, said Bernard Frischer, the director of the University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities.
