Learning about light from the mantis shrimp

Looking to nature for solutions to our human problems is a strategy called biomimicry (this copycat approach has brought us some rather ingenious inventions). One of the latest examples of nature-inspired innovation got my attention because it features one of my favourite underwater record-breakers, the mantis shrimp.

This primitive little stomatopod has a rather extraordinary visual system.

This four-inch marine crustacean packs an awesomely powerful punch (at 10,000 times the force of gravity, the blow can smash aquarium glass). But the inspiration in this particular instance came from the stomatopod’s rather extraordinary visual system: its amazing eyeballs have inspired the world’s smallest “spectrometer-on-a-chip”. Now before you cry “specra-what?!”, here’s the story simplified:

Optical spectrometers are analytical instruments with all sorts of [complicated] scientific, medical and industrial applications. But we can sidestep the complexities by simply saying that they deal with light – they help us to determine certain properties of physical objects by measuring how these objects interact with light. Until now, these analytical benefits were reserved for the lucky few who had the room to accommodate the bulky spectrometer (about the size of an office photocopier) and the cash to pay for it (up to $30 000). Enter the new “spectrometer-on-a-chip”. It’s much smaller (about 5 mm x 5 mm x 2 mm in size) and cheaper, allowing for all sorts of personal applications. NanoLambda, the creators of the device, list a number of uses, including wearable devices that will allow patients to monitor their health stats around the clock and immediately transmit the info to their doctors via the internet. Pretty nifty.

The mantis shrimp is the only creature known to science that can detect circularly polarized light.

So where does the mantis shrimp come in? Well, if you’re looking to improve a light-measuring instrument, the mantis shrimp offers the finest design inspiration – it’s better at detecting light than any other creature on our planet. While human eyes make do with just three kinds of light receptors, mantis shrimps enjoy the benefits of as many as 16, an adaptation that opens up an entire world of light invisible to humans (including the ultraviolet and infrared ranges). What’s even more amazing is the mantis shrimp’s ability to detect circularly polarized light (no other creature known to science can do this). If you want to imagine what this might be like, think about what happens when you put on those dorky glasses to watch a 3D movie (cinematic 3D often relies on circular polarization).

Bored of all the serious talk? Watch the mantis shrimp “solve” the Rubik’s cube.