You heard it right, folks! The University of Toronto researchers have been inspired by the dynamic, color-changing skin of squid to create a low-cost, multilayered fluidic system that promises to reduce energy costs in buildings. This system has a lot more control over light transmission compared to current technologies, and can regulate the amount, type and direction of solar energy that enters a building.

"Buildings use a ton of energy to heat, cool, and light up their spaces. If we can control the amount of sunlight that enters, we can save a lot of energy on heating, cooling, and lighting," says Raphael Kay, lead author of the study.

The prototypes consist of plastic sheets with channels that contain fluid with different optical properties. By adding or removing fluid from each layer, the system can control the amount of light that gets through. This simple but effective technology enables the creation of dynamic building facades that can do anything you want in terms of their optical properties. (Read more here)

"If we just focus on near-infrared light, we could save about 25% annually on heating, cooling, and lighting energy. If we have two layers, infrared and visible light, it could be up to 50% savings, which is huge!" says Kay.

The study also revealed that the optimization of the control algorithms could be an ideal task for artificial intelligence in the future. Imagine a building that can adjust its facade on its own, optimizing for seasonal and daily changes in solar conditions. Now, that's what we call a smart building!

So, folks, let's all give a round of applause to these brilliant researchers who took inspiration from one of the coolest creatures in the ocean and turned it into a solution to save energy. It's time to say goodbye to those traditional windows and hello to Liquid Windows!

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💡Vertically Stacked Micro-LED's Revolutionise Virtual Reality Experience

MIT Engineers Develop Full-Colour Pixels for Immersive VR World

Imagine a world where virtual reality is so real, you can't tell the difference between it and reality. A world where VR is fully immersive and you feel like you're actually there. MIT engineers have made that world a step closer to reality with their invention of vertically stacked, full-color micro-LEDs.

Gone are the days of horizontal LED arrangements that result in a "screen door effect," leaving you feeling like you're peeking through a grid. No more limitations to the size of LEDs that result in a lack of sharpness and resolution. These engineers have figured out a way to stack the red, green, and blue diodes, creating vertically multicolored pixels that are just 4 microns wide and can be packed to a density of 5,000 pixels per inch.

Jeehwan Kim, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, says, "This is the smallest micro-LED pixel and the highest pixel density reported in the journals." So, what's the secret behind this breakthrough? The team has come up with a way to fabricate micro-LEDs that doesn't require precise, pixel-by-pixel alignment. They grew ultrathin membranes of red, green, and blue LEDs, stacked them together, and carved them into tiny, vertical pixels. (Read more here)

Jiho Shin, a postdoc in Kim's research group, adds, "In conventional displays, each R, G, and B pixel is arranged laterally, which limits how small you can create each pixel. Because we are stacking all three pixels vertically, in theory, we could reduce the pixel area by a third." And the best part is, you won't have to worry about wasting the entire display if one pixel is out of place.

So, what does this mean for us? Well, it means we're one step closer to a fully immersive virtual reality experience. It's like stepping into a world where you can touch, feel, and experience everything as if it were real. So, let's raise a glass to the MIT engineers and their vertically stacked, full-color micro-LEDs. To a future where virtual reality is indistinguishable from reality.