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Schneier on SecurityA blog covering security and security technology. « Second SHB Workshop Liveblogging (9) | Main | The "Hidden Cost" of Privacy » June 12, 2009Friday Squid Blogging: Squid Also See Through Non-Eye OrganThe UW-Madison researchers have been intrigued by the light organ's "counterillumination" ability -- this capacity to give off light to make squids as bright as the ocean surface above them, so that predators below can't see them. Posted on June 12, 2009 at 6:46 PM • 7 Comments To receive these entries once a month by e-mail, sign up for the Crypto-Gram Newsletter. Donald Wakefield • June 12, 2009 7:58 PM I saw this on BoingBoing, and the first person I thought of was you: magetoo • June 13, 2009 12:26 PM If I'm not mistaken, those are the same guys that Ed Yong wrote about recently too: His blog is well worth visiting -- and worth adding to the daily routine for anyone who wants some good science writing. Chris S • June 13, 2009 11:30 PM Integrating the light sensor with the light producer is a nice trick, but the counterillumination is well known. Hatchet fish might be the best examples, but squid have been known to do this before... http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/midorcas/... Interestingly, many military groups have discovered the value of counter illumination as part of camoflage. dot tilde dot • June 15, 2009 6:54 AM @chris s, military value: ... and that is known too, or do you happen to have a link at hand? .~. Davi Ottenheimer • June 15, 2009 11:03 AM A "light organ" sounds like something from the 70s. Didn't ELO have one? Chris S • June 15, 2009 1:18 PM Military usage can start as something as simple as dazzle camoflage for boats, and includes such classics as painting the bottom of aircraft sky blue. More recent items would include this... http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/05/... ... where illuminating the leading edges of the wings on a drone makes it almost impossible to see until much closer in. This article... http://jmrc.tripod.com/fa/stealth/stealth2.htm ... details similar projects in WWII and Vietnam using bright lighting on aircraft to reduce their visibility. Jake • June 25, 2009 3:24 PM how does the squid know how bright to make its light organ? Does it detect (with eye or light organ) the brightness of the ocean surface above it? figure water pressure, convert it to depth, and then to required illumination level? something else?
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