A food dye that can make living things transparent has been discovered in a Doritos. Find out more in this post.
Imagine a world where a simple food coloring, commonly used in your favorite snacks, allowed researchers to see inside the body without resorting to surgery.
It might sound like something out of a science fiction movie, but that’s exactly what Stanford scientists have just achieved using a dye found in Doritos.
Doritos Food Dye Turns Mice Into a ‘Living Windows’: Revolutionary Science Advance!
In a recent study published in the journal Science , a team of researchers found that the food coloring tartrazine, known as “yellow No. 5,” can temporarily turn the skin of mice transparent.
By applying a solution containing this dye to different parts of their bodies, they were able to observe incredible details: branching blood vessels, muscle fibers and even contractions of the intestine, without having to cut the skin.
The science behind this “magical” discovery
So how does this food coloring make skin transparent? It relies on some pretty simple optical principles.
Normally, light scatters when it passes through our skin because of the complex structure of the cells. This scattering of light makes the tissues opaque and therefore difficult to see through.
But by applying tartrazine to the skin, scientists found that it changed the way light refracted through the tissues.
By reducing scatter, tissues temporarily become clearer, allowing researchers to see directly through the skin. And all without surgery or radiation.
Endless applications for medicine and beyond
This revolutionary technique opens up immense prospects for science and medicine.
According to Guosong Hong, one of the team’s researchers, this method could make it possible to observe deep activities in the brain of a living being, diagnose tumors without invasive intervention, or even make cosmetic procedures like tattoo removal much more precise.
Although these experiments have not yet been tested on humans, they could one day help doctors locate a vein for a blood test without the need for an exploratory needle, or improve medical diagnostics for complex pathologies. The potential is enormous!
And in humans? Not yet, but soon…
Although tartrazine is already used as a food additive and does not appear to cause significant side effects in mice, researchers still need to obtain ethical approval to test the technique on humans.
Francesco Pavone, an expert in biophotonics, believes that this scientific breakthrough could launch a real race in the scientific community to find concrete applications in humans.
“The ultimate goal is to use this technique on humans, and so far we are still limited,” Pavone says. “But this discovery could be a game changer.”
A window on the future
The Stanford scientists’ discovery is a fascinating breakthrough that could revolutionize the way we explore the human body.
While there is still a way to go before these techniques can be used in hospitals or clinics, the idea of making human skin temporarily transparent using a simple food coloring is simply astounding.
Stay tuned, because this technology could revolutionize the medical science of tomorrow, all thanks to a dye found in our Doritos!
Source: www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/09/05/see-through-transparent-mice-food-dye
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