Can you imagine that tasty triangle-shaped tortilla chips have a superpower? One of the ingredients found in Doritos Potato Chips can make the skin transparent. Scientists at Stanford University It was recently claimed that a dye that helps give Doritos potato chips their orange hue can turn a mouse’s skin transparent.
The research, titled “Achieving optical transparency in living animals with absorbing molecules,” was published in the journal “Science” on September 5.
In a series of experiments reminiscent of science fiction, scientists at Stanford University used a food coloring known as FD&C Yellow 5, on the abdomen, scalp and hind legs of a sedated mouse. After five minutes, the mice’s skin temporarily transformed into a living window, allowing scientists to look through the tissues to the structures below, including blood vessels and internal organs at naked eye.
The effects were not permanent, the university scientists said. The mouse’s skin returned to normal once the dye was removed, they added.
“The researchers believe this is the first noninvasive approach to achieving visibility into the living brain of a mouse. internal organs“the university said in a statement.
“It’s a major breakthrough,” Philipp Keller, a biologist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, was quoted as saying by Nature magazine.
Zihao Ou, the lead author of the study, said: “For those who understand the fundamental physics behind this, it makes sense; but if you are not familiar with it, it seems like a magic trick.”
“It is important that the dye is biocompatible, meaning safe for living organisms,” Ou said. “It is also very cheap and efficient; we don’t need a lot of it for it to work.”
How it works
Explaining the science behind the transparent According to Nature, the technique works by modifying the way body tissues, which are normally opaque, interact with light. The fluids, fats and proteins that make up tissues such as skin and muscle have low refractive indices, while lipids and proteins have high indices. The tissues appear opaque because the contrast between these refractive indices causes light to scatter. The researchers said that adding a dye that strongly absorbs light to such tissues could narrow the gap between the components’ refractive indices enough to make them transparent.
Researchers plan to continue research and experiment with other substances that could outperform tartrazine.
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