Scientists Discover a Common U.S. Color Additive Turns Mice Skin Transparent
The newest science non-Fiction discovery: optical tissue clearing
In 1898, author H.G. Wells published The Invisible Man, a sci-fi novel about a scientist who finds a way to alter the cells in his body to make himself invisible. The story inspired many film adaptations from as early as 1933 to as recently as 2020, but in 2024, Wells’s concept is stepping off the book pages and television screens and into real life.
While perhaps not quite as dramatic as Wells’s protagonist, scientists have discovered a very real way to turn living tissue into temporary windows revealing muscles, organs, and blood vessels beneath. The technique is referred to as “optical tissue clearing.” Even more remarkable than the outcome is the solution they used to achieve it — a common coloring additive found in everything from food to cosmetics in The United States.
The Challenge
H.G. Wells may very well (ha!) have been the first person to popularize the idea of optical tissue clearing, even if it was a fictional concept, but the scientists of the study I’ll tell you about soon weren’t the first to attempt the feat in real life. Experts have been mixing and matching chemicals in an attempt to turn tissue…
