Dead animals in jars have never looked so pretty.
A team of PhD students from New Jersey have transformed animal specimens into beautiful transparent artworks. They have developed a chemical formula called Visikol that can rapidly change the transparency of animal tissues without degrading the specimen.
Visikol works by changing the refractive index of animal tissue so that light is able to pass through. The chemical mix was originally designed as a clearing agent for plants but this team soon realised it had potential beyond a lab setting. Through their startup company, Taxiclear, the researchers are raising money to expand their new product.
They aim to make transparent life forms accessible to hobbyists, artists and educators by making the chemical ingredients affordable and easy to produce.
Transparent preserved animals can substitute for messy dissections in classrooms as they reveal much about the inner workings of animals. Their striking, surreal aesthetics are likely to spark an interest in biology.
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