Octopuses' color-changing skin inspires new type of camouflage

Researchers developed flexible sheets of light sensors, containing a temperature-sensitive dye, that can automatically sense and adapt to the color of their surroundings.

|
Cunjiang Yu et al.
Now you see me: Researchers used their octopus-inspired camouflage material to spell out the letters "U o I" (University of Illinois).

Octopuses and squid possess the amazing ability to blend in with their surroundings, but now, researchers have created a man-made system that mimics this form of camouflage.

The team developed flexible sheets of light sensors, containing a temperature-sensitive dye, that can automatically sense and adapt to the color of their surroundings. The technology could have consumer, industrial and military applications, according to the study, published today (Aug. 18) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"These devices are capable of producing black-and-white patterns that spontaneously match those of the surroundings, without user input or external measurement," the researchers wrote in the paper. [See video of octopus-inspired camouflage]

Octopuses and squid are members of a group known as cephalopods, marine animals that have bilaterally symmetric bodies, large heads and arms or tentacles derived from the soft foot of a mollusk. These creatures have developedsophisticated forms of camouflage to conceal themselves, communicate, hunt and reproduce. Recently, scientists have come to understand how these animals perform these vanishing acts on an organ and cellular level.

In the study, researchers from the University of Houston and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created cephalopod-inspired materials that can sense and move in order to blend in with their surroundings. They developed flexible sheets consisting of color-changing elements on top of a white reflective surface with moving devices and light sensors. The color-changing parts contain dyes that change from opaque to colorless in response to temperatures above 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47 degrees Celsius).

The color-changing elements act like chromatophores, the tiny pigment-containing and light-reflecting organs in cephalopods. The reflective background is like leucophores (white chromatophores found in some cephalopod species); the motors act like the muscles that control the chromatophores; and the light sensor acts like structures that contain opsins, which are light-sensitive receptors involved in vision.

The researchers tested their camouflage material, showing it was able to adapt to changing patterns of light in its surroundings within 1 to 2 seconds, the scientists said. The researchers also programmed the material to produce a variety of black-and-white patterns, including one that spelled the letters "U o I" (for University of Illinois).

Systems like this one could lead to adaptive camouflage technology that can be tuned to its environment, and integrated into electronics for a variety of applications, from military to industrial uses, the researchers said.

Editor's Note: If you have an amazing animal camouflage photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Jeanna Bryner at LSphotos@livescience.com.

Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescienceFacebook Google+. Original article on Live Science.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Octopuses' color-changing skin inspires new type of camouflage
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2014/0819/Octopuses-color-changing-skin-inspires-new-type-of-camouflage
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe