Eyes of Mantis Shrimp Could Inspire Design of Sophisticated DVD and CD players

The Mantis Shrimp research conducted at the University of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences in collaboration with colleagues at UMBC, USA and the University of Queensland, Australia is likely to inspire a new generation of highly sophisticated CD and DVD players.

The Mantis Shrimps is found on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. These shrimps have the most complex vision systems known to science. They can see in twelve colours . Humans see in only three colors. Mantis Shrimp can also distinguish between different forms of polarized light.

Artificial devices only tend to work well for one colour of light while the natural mechanism in the mantis shrimp's eyes works perfectly across the whole visible spectrum of light. This natural mechanism, comprised of cell membranes rolled into tubes outperforms synthetic designs by all counts. Scientists believe that it could help us make better optical devices in the future using liquid crystals that have been chemically engineered to mimic the properties of the cells in the mantis shrimp's eye.

Details of the research appear in the latest issue of the journal Nature Photonics.