Octopus Skin Inspires High-Tech Camouflage Fabric | The Institute for Creation Research

Octopus Skin Inspires High-Tech Camouflage Fabric

An octopus can change the color of its skin at will to mimic any kind of surrounding. It actively camouflages itself with astoundingly complicated biological machinery. Wouldn't it be great if, say, a soldier's uniform or an armored vehicle used similar technology?

Researchers from the University of Houston, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Northwestern University have recently developed a heat-sensitive sheet that can automatically transition between black and white and produce multiple shades of gray.

Achieving their tiny prototype was no easy feat. A University of Houston news report said, "The flexible skin of the device is comprised of ultrathin layers, combining semiconductor actuators, switching components and light sensors with inorganic reflectors and organic color-changing materials in such a way to allow autonomous matching to background coloration."1

The team published their work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where they described their design as inspired by octopus skin.2

First, the octopus must detect the color of its surroundings, and in this human-engineered material photodiodes and multiplexing switches sense background patterns. In a 44-page supplement to the PNAS article, the authors listed 76 distinct steps required to fabricate their photodetector array and 74 steps to fabricate the diode array. Additional steps combine these arrays into the final product.

But all this ingenuity still pales in comparison to living octopus technology.

A Newsy online video quoted one of the PNAS study authors as having told National Geographic, "As an engineer looking at movies of squid, octopuses, and cuttlefish, you just [realize] that you're not going to get close to that level of sophistication."3

If a single fabrication step fails to occur, then the man-made color changing fabric would not function, illustrating the focused intent required to bring the design from concept to seamlessly functioning reality. How much more does the construction of octopus skin with its superior, higher-resolution, full-color fabric—that even heals itself—illustrate the focus and intent of a sophisticated genius Maker?

References

  1. Kever, J. Researchers Draw Inspiration for Camouflage System From Marine Life. University of Houston News. Posted on uh.edu August 19, 2014, accessed August 19, 2014.
  2. Yu, C. et al. Adaptive optoelectronic camouflage systems with designs inspired by cephalopod skins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Published online before print, August 18, 2014.
  3. Awesome New Camouflage Sheet Was Inspired By Octopus Skin. Newsy. Posted on sciencedaily.com August 19, 2014, accessed August 19, 2014.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on August 27, 2014.

The Latest
CREATION PODCAST
Water vs. Wind: The Controversial Coconino | The Creation Podcast:...
Welcome to the sixth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Fossil Fish Finally Filmed
The bizarre lobe-finned coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) “that flourished some 350 million years ago”1 continues to be a thorn...

NEWS
The Mosasaur: A Giant Sea Dragon
Mosasaurs (order Squamata) were massive marine lizards that were common in the pre-Flood oceans. Therefore, it is not surprising that their fossils...

DAYS OF PRAISE DEVOTIONALS
Summer 2025
...

NEWS
Was Life Detected on a Distant Planet?
There was celebration, albeit briefly, for the discovery of potential life on a planet called K2-18b, which is 124 lightyears away from Earth. The...

NEWS
Ichthyosaur Graveyard Explained by the Flood
Ichthyosaurs are marine reptiles that occur globally in the same rock layers as dinosaurs. Specimens with babies support the idea that they gave live...

CREATION PODCAST
What Do We Do With Geology's Unconforming Features? | The Creation...
Welcome to the fifth episode in a series called “The Failures of Old Earth Creationism.” Many Christians attempt to fit old...

NEWS
Freshwater Fish Fossil in Australia
Yet another fish fossil has been discovered. This one was found in the Australian desert and was dated by evolutionists to be “15 million years...

NEWS
May 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans...

NEWS
Acoustic Communication in Animals
We are all familiar with vocalizations in the animal world. For example, dogs bark, birds sing, frogs croak, and whales send forth their own distinct...