A way for stars to avoid the paparazzi?

Chameleon clothing lets you vanish into the background

A chemist in the United States is working on "chameleon clothing" that
at the touch of a switch would mimic the wearer's surroundings, New
Scientist says.

Greg Sotzing, associate professor of the University of Connecticut at
Storrs has invented threads of so-called electrochromic polymers that
change colour in response to an applied electrical field, the British
weekly says.

The threads work because the electrons in their chemical bonds can
absorb light across a range of visible wavelengths.

When a voltage is applied, it changes the energy levels of the
electrons, causing them to absorb light in a different wavelength and
thus changing the material's colour.

So far, Sotzing has been able to change fibres from orange to blue and
from red to blue. His next step is to create threads that switch from
red, blue and green to white.

Ultimately, says New Scientist, Sotzing hopes to weave differently
coloured threads into a criss-cross pattern so that, connected by metal
wires to a battery pack, each crosspoint becomes a pixel -- the tiny
point of light in a TV or computer screen.

The fabric could be made into clothing whose colour be switched by a
microcontroller according to the wearer's mood.

Or, by connecting the microcontroller to a camera, the pixels could
display the pattern and colours of the wearer's surroundings, thus
helping him to melt into the background.

The report appears in this Saturday's issue of New Scientist.

Other scientists in this field are working on electrochromic polymer
films that could change the colour of a surface. The films could darken
window panes automatically in response to bright light, or be used to
display ads in packaging or personal messages or greeting cards.

=A9 2006 AFP

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