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Aussie shrimp inspire a super DVD player
BRITISH BOFFINS have come up with a super high-quality DVD based on the eyes of an Aussie shimp.
According to The Australian, Mantis shrimp are famous for their vicious claws but also have the most complex eyes which they need to find food and mates on the Great Barrier Reef.
The shrimp can see 12 primary colours, four times more than humans. They can also spot different types of light polarisation at 20 paces. Apparently it is really hard to find a girlfriend and a curry on the Great Barrier Reef.
Boffins at the University of Bristol think the shrimp use light-sensitive cells that rotate the plane of polarisation in light as it travels through the eye.
DVDs and CDs do the same thing but only in one colour, while the shrimp's eye operates almost perfectly across the whole visible spectrum from near ultra-violet to infra-red.
The Bristol boffins wondered what would happen if they transferred the same multi-colour ability into a DVD player.
The eye of the shrimp apparently came up with a mechanism that is a lot better than anything humans have evolved. Boffin Nicholas Roberts said the system, comprising cell membranes rolled into tubes, could be mimicked in the lab using liquid crystals.
It is not clear how far they are away from building such a machine. But it seems sad that the mantis shrimp has lacked the one thing most Aussies have - a decent entertainment system to plug his eyes into. µ
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As an Australian male, I need clarification of the language used in this article.
Do you mean "mate", as in someone you go boozing with, or in fact just this minute met (as in "Maaaate!")?
Or do you mean the bit of fluff you picked up during said boozing session, and intend on taking home with you?
These are important distinctions for us Antipodeans.
"Just why the mantis shrimp needs such a rarefied level of vision is unclear, although researchers suspect it is to do with food and sex."
Well Duh, Most things we do in life is for food and sex. Thats why I eat well and go to an Eye doctor.
i dunno, but at a guess, maybe the increased sensativity to smaller wavelengths may increase bit density and read/write speed? and maybe the polarisation may facilitate multilayer discs without needing a focus mechanisum, so no "layer change" waitstate, and more layers?
the above is a rough guess but probably wrong, but the only things to make a "super DVD" would be a boost in data capacity and speed?
or maybe they are fitting 50GB on those 8cm discs, instead of those massive 12cm jobs?
why are we bothering with removable media at all these days?
hey you kids, get off my lawn?
Interesting little article. But the title says something about "super DVD". What is so super about?
Mentioning how "superior" the eyes of a shrimp is nice and all. But you are leaving out how it can be significant for DVD's.