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“Color-shifting cuttlefish inspire TV screens” – Intelligent Design Overtones?

One of the coolest animals on the planet has got to be the cuttlefish. They are notorious for their ability to change color to camouflage themselves, communicate with one-another, stand out and be intimidating, or confuse predators. According to a recent MSNBC article titled, “Color-shifting cuttlefish inspire TV screens,” scientists “are developing cuttlefish-inspired electronic ink and screens that use less than one-hundredth the power of traditional television screens.” According to the article, the screens are cheap to make and easy to assemble: “The screen is so easy to assemble, said Thomas, that he that is working with a Boston area science teacher to produce a version cheap enough, safe enough and simple enough for middle and high school students to build in chemistry class.” There are some drawbacks to this design: “Since the screens reflect light instead of creating light, they can only be used in a lit area.” Nonetheless, engineers are hopeful:

“The tunability of these systems is fantastic,” said Stephen Foulger, a professor at Clemson University also working on reflective screens. “There is a huge span of colors and applications. … this is a nice system that has a huge span of colors, and that can often trump problems like viewing angle.”

The article also reports that “Microsoft, Sun Chemical Corp., the University of Cincinnati and Cornell University all have active reflective screen research units, all for a variety of different purposes. Electronic ink applications, pressure sensors and advertising billboards are only a few of the potential applications.”

So we may soon have affordable, energy-efficient, cuttlefish inspired flat screen TVs and computer monitors everywhere. But of course, there’s no design overtones to see here folks. None whatsoever.

 

Casey Luskin

Associate Director and Senior Fellow, Center for Science and Culture
Casey Luskin is a geologist and an attorney with graduate degrees in science and law, giving him expertise in both the scientific and legal dimensions of the debate over evolution. He earned his PhD in Geology from the University of Johannesburg, and BS and MS degrees in Earth Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied evolution extensively at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. His law degree is from the University of San Diego, where he focused his studies on First Amendment law, education law, and environmental law.

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Biomimetics