It has long been thought that only nerve and heart cells use electric impulses to communicate, while epithelial cells — which compose the linings of our skin, organs and body cavities — are mute, serving mostly as protective barriers that can absorb and secrete various substances. The Granick Group has upended the status quo by showing that epithelial cells do indeed “talk” to each other, albeit with slow electrical signals. This new discovery, published recently in PNAS could enable new applications for everything from wearable bioelectric sensors to wound healing.