Photonic Ink Changes Color On Command

An anonymous reader submits "According to Nature's report : "A new ink changes colour at the flick of a switch." It now named Photonic Ink, or P-Ink. "P-Ink's iridescent colours depend upon a process called diffraction." "To make the colour of the ink tunable" the team led by Geoffrey Ozin "packs a polymer gel between its stacked spheres" which can change size "when it is soaked in solvent and shrinks when it dries". In addition, it "conducts electricity", and "altering the voltage tunes the ink's colour smoothly through the spectrum." more detail also can found on Advanced Materials."

snowcrash anyone?

[darksaber]

Anyone else reminded of those jackets in Snowcrash that changed colors? IIRC, the Enforcers had them and a flick of a switch would turn all the lettering on them black to match the rest of the jacket.

Terrified...

[breon.halling]

I don't know about you, but I personally, I'm terrified as to how the porno industry will make use of this. =)

Re:Terrified...

[tsa]

Can you make the material transparent at the flick of a switch?

Any color?

[Anonymous Coward]

Any color, as long as it's P-Ink!

It might be fun...

[Simon Field]

It might be fun to combine this with piezoelectric plastic film and put it in clothing, so it flashes colors as you move.

Changing colour

[Matthias Wiesmann]

This could make funny clothes that change color on demand. Of course, it will also make life very difficult for people who cannot make up their mind: blue, no yell... argh....

Re:Changing colour

[potsi]

Yes, because that wasn't popular 15 years ago.

Remember "Hyper Color" shirts?

Great Idea...

[irn_bru]

But does it pass the litmus test???

Actually, imagine the crazy fun you could have with colour changing paper and colour changing ink...

Re:james bond

[pyrote]

so how long does it take to figure out that you mount a pinhole cam or 12 on the opposite side and reproduce an image of the area behind the car. not only does that make the car invisible, but it would work for his tux, even the license plate.

Heck with 'skinning' found in most video games, a genaric car could be made to look a little like a porche or in the bad part of town, a toyota.

I'd like to see nascar use this to update sponsors on-the-fly as they bail from the tail car to back up the lead car.

Couterfeit Detection

[aridhol]

Depending on how difficult/expensive it is to make this stuff, it could be used on money as an anti-counterfeit measure.

Tattoos

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine tattoos,
your body's natual electrical charges and static

animatoos

Simpsons animated tattoos premiere

[irenetheno]

"My name is Ot-to. And I've got anima-toos!"

Oh Great!

[Strange Ranger]

Coming soon - "How to hook your power supply up to the 'intel inside' sticker.

On the spot drug tests, for example?

[SolemnDragon]

New meaning to mood rings, for starters. But what i'd like to know is can the colour of the ink be fixed, or linked through an input device (otherwise sealed off from the outside) so that you could have a document that doesn't appear until you enter the right key? could hackable newspapers be next?

And if it were possible to re-print on the same page, would this mean that newspapers would re-use/recycle themselves? Just plug it into the daily info port, and watch as it reprints itself? It wouldn't be as fun as what i use (The internet for my daily news) but it would be intriguing, and i might go for it just to have a hard copy. On the other hand, it's hard enoguh to keep records as it is- this means there could be documents which cease to exist as soon as you tell them to, no pesky burning involved... hm. I'll have to think about this. When i see colourchange makeup come out, i'm going to scream...

Re:On the spot drug tests, for example?

[Webmonger]

You could combine this with those transparent transistors they just came out with to put the data decryption circuitry onto the surface of the pager.
That would be pretty well impossible to bypass, since the decryption hardware would BE the message.

It would also be neat to have a piece of paper that was also a scanner!

Oh great...

[DeComposer]

I can just see it now: animated banner ads...

• ...in magazines.

What's next? Flash 'animations' in newspapers?

Re:Oh great...

[Myco]

That sounds wonderful. At last we'd be able to physically destroy banner ads.

Name collision

[babbage]

Researchers come up with a chemical that can take on any color, and the best name they can come up for it is "P-INK"?

I think that name is already taken by another color, actually...

Re:Name collision

[Myco]

You'd prefer "phink," perhaps?

Perfect for corporate accounting

[Wireless Joe]

I can imagine these inks used on quarterly statements. Shareholders get the copy with all the black ink; just don't forget to flip the "red ink" switch when you send it to the IRS.

Total Recall

[browrp]

Reminds me of that scene in Total Recall [imdb.com] where the secretary was changing the color of her nails with the tap of a stylus... Yet another office productivity tool ;)