25 February, 2018
An international group of scientists has unlocked the secret to natural, textured camouflage, potentially opening the door for a real-life invisibility cloak some time in the not-too-distant future.
Cuttlefish can almost instantaneously blend in with their surroundings, thanks to neural circuits, which the team from the Marine Biological Laboratory and University of Cambridge identified. They also noticed a number of similarities with the neural circuitry that controls iridescence in certain species of squid. Both creatures use the unique camouflage technique for both defense ‒ to hide from predators ‒ and offense ‒ to spring traps on unsuspecting prey.