While this may look like a creature borne from the imaginings of the Recess Bully we all grew up with and hated, the mantis shrimp — which is neither a mantis nor a shrimp, and that’s one of the least weird facts about it — may hold the key to upgrading our televisions, indeed even our entire visual field, with those big buggy eyes.
And it starts with something called circular polarized light, CPL, which is a form of light that no creature on Earth can perceive. Except, that is, ol’ Manty here. Unlike other forms of light such as black-and-white, color and linear polarized, CPL are too difficult for organisms to process due to their coiled wavelength nature. But CPL is very valuable in that it more densely packs information into its tight spirals than, say, linear polarized ever could.
Also, as if it’s showing off or something, the mantis shrimp also boasts a visual field that can distinguish 100,000 different colors — ten times as many as humans.
This biological technology, which researchers say “far surpasses any current material manufacturing capabilities,” could lead to breakthroughs in how we’re able to see our world.
But be careful, these little guys mean business. Their claw-pinching action is the second-fastest recorded movement in the animal kingdom, and they are known for pulverizing their prey or anything else it deems threatening. Read that again — pulverizing, as in, to dust.
Which raises the obvious question: How far are you willing to go for a few more colors and pixels on your TV screen?
Yeah, me too.
For extra science fun, check out Wired’s “What’s Old Is New: 12 Living Fossils.” Since Manty hasn’t changed in approximately 500 million years, you know he makes the list. Check out what else did here.
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