Engineering.com (Mississauga, Ontario, Sept. 17) -- Researchers have produced a sheet material which can change color selectively on demand. John Rogers, a materials science and engineering professor at Illinois, says the new sheet was the fruit of a collaboration between experts in biology, materials, computing and electrical engineering. “Animals in the natural world, particularly cephalopods -- octopus, squid and cuttlefish -- have really spectacular color-changing capabilities.”
Related article: The Washington Post (Sept. 22) -- For millions of years, hiding has been a primary means of survival for soft, gushy and often defenseless cephalopods, which predators find so alluring that squid and related creatures are a bait of choice for fishermen. Engineers can learn a lot from these masters of deception. “The power of evolution is spectacular,” says John Rogers, a materials scientist at Illinois who is part of a multi-institutional team developing high-tech camouflage. “We are taking inspiration from nature to build devices that can respond and adapt to the lighting and coloration of whatever environment they are in.” Also: Stars and Stripes (from The Washington Post; Washington, D.C., Sept. 24).