I love color. I can’t match it to save my everlasting soul, but I love it all the same. The entire spectrum from snow white to pitch. And when I found science about color, I just had to share it.
Tarantula Blue is a term coined by the researchers of this structural coloration, and though the research is way above my paygrade, it has the potential for some rather interesting applications.
Of course, optical advancement in technology, TVs and phones and computers, are a given. I’m more intrigued by the possible development this could have on culture and military or exploration.
A color that never fades and could be tweaked in an astounding number of ways can give humanity a whole host of new colors. Fashionistas the world over would flood the markets with never seen before clothing and accessories that even my fashionista sister could be satisfied with. The world clothed in a dazzling rainbow array. A pretty fun bit of world building to add for any speculative fiction writer. Now those vivid color words will no longer need to be hyperbole.
Military application is pretty straight forward. Commanders have often lamented about camouflage is never quite right, the patterns not as effective as soldiers need, the colors always fade away during deployment because of hard use. My spouse is a veteran, so I have seen these problems with my own eyes.
Of course, with that iridescence can be taken out of structural coloration, combat colors will stay in prime condition over far longer periods of time. It will save money in the long run and probably change ground combat in a myriad, if subtle, ways.
I think the area that will really spark the writer’s mind into action though, is what this means for research itself. The ability to camouflage is a trait that humanity has envied and reproduced with various amounts of success for an extraordinarily long time. Mostly for hunting, warfare or escape, granted.
Tarantula Blue could be used to get scientists closer to other animal species on this planet for safer study. The ability to blend in to the backdrop and watch a family group of gorillas or foxes or pandas without undue stress would give scientists a bunch of new information. And if we can do it on this world, we can use it on any other world where we find life to observe and study without the destruction that same observation usually causes now.
Something to think about with your next off-world, or even urban fantasy, adventure.
Cool, no?
-T.A. Creech
Author of LGBT romance and speculative fiction.