Scientists Create New Camouflage Based on Octopus Skin

Researchers have created a material that mimics the function of octopus and squid skin, in that it can alter its color to match its surrounding environment--sort of. Currently, the prototype material can only change from white to black and back, however, scientists are confident that they understand the mechanics of how adaptive camouflage works and promise that the next version will be more complex in its mimicking ability. 

Value Walk reports that while researchers from the University of Houston and the University of Illinois at Urbana--Champagne based there design on the skin of cephalopod skin (octopi, squid), it still works a bit differently than the skin of its ocean relatives. 

"There are analogies between layers of our system and those in the Octopus skin, but all the actual function is achieved in radically different ways," says John Rogers, lead researcher at the University of Houston. "The multi-layer architecture works really well, though. Evolution reached the same conclusion." 

The layering he is referring to has to do with how the pigmentation alteration occurs. An octopus' skin has three layers of cells that work together to produce its amazing adaptive properties. The first two layers produce red and yellow or blue and green pigments, while the third level diffuses light in order to either brighten or darken the other levels' pigmentation. An octopus' skin changes color when the creatures muscles move the cell layers--or chromatophores--and this allows a cephalopod to change color in an instant. 

Scientists aren't trying to copy cephalopods' adaptive camouflage mechanics exactly. Instead they have reverse engineered a way to produce something that achieves a rough version of their inspiration. They're also using layers with their artificial camouflage system, including a top layer containing black or clear solution and a second layer that manipulates light. The end result is a material that can change its pigment to match a light sources "pattern" when a light is shined directly on it, reports Value Walk. 

Rogers and his team claim that their material won't be limited to just black and white for very long; adding extra layers to include the ability to mimic color is well within their reach. They are also working to speed up the material's reaction time by using electric fields to manipulate the cell layers instead of relying on heat. 

Even though science has somewhat unlocked the mystery of how cephalopods change their skin color to adapt to their surroundings, being able to mimic an object's own general surroundings is still beyond our reach. How an octopus or squid knows exactly how to match what is immediately in its vicinity is still a big mystery, and one researchers hope to one day understand.