Cephalopods, the group of organisms to which the cuttlefish and squid belong, have survived on Earth for millions of years through their mastery of the art of camouflage. These organisms also may have the key to creating technology that would allow for combat troops to avoid being detected by infrared scans. At the University of California, a research team has created "invisibility stickers, patches which use the same protein used by squids, reflictin, in order to camouflage the wearer. Though not ready for use in combat just yet, they are well on their way to developing almost perfect camouflage.
This is very similar to the arms race that went on during the Cold War, in which the USSR and US were attempting to come up with the most powerful and game-changing weapons that they could in order to gain the upper hand on the other side. This also happened during WWII, in which military defense experiments gave us things like antibiotics and rockets which we still use today. So, hopefully, the team will use this new-found technology to create civilian uses for it.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/11/us/squid-camouflage-technology/index.html
It's really interesting how technology is inspired by things from nature. Hopefully, like you said, this competition will hopefully give us useful technology.
ReplyDeleteThis would be totally awesome but dangerous for friendly fire. Quentin P2
ReplyDeleteThough this would be an amazing advancement, it seems too expensive and the money could be put to better use like education and social services.
ReplyDeleteLauren Kuehmeier, per.2