Engineers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have developed a composite material that mimics the expansion and contraction of chromatophores on the skin of squid that control infrared light and heat transmission, which it claims can be cost-effectively scaled for insulating applications such as beverage cups. Developed in the laboratory of Alon Gorodetsky, UCI associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, the infrared-reflecting metallised polymer film reportedly regulates heat through reconfigurable metal structures that can reversibly separate from one another and come back together under different strain levels. Read More