Scientists Created the Blackest Fabric Ever, Then Made a Dress

The tiny black dress may be a fashion classic, but making the tiny, perfectly black dress is more a job for scientists. In nature, black can be tremendously functional and fashionable, but for materials engineers, recreating that level of darkness for real-world applications is challenging.

A team of designers, ornithologists , and materials scientists at Cornell University have successfully developed a method to create “ultrablack” fabric, described in a recent Nature Communications paper. The new technique, a two-step process, takes heavy inspiration from the plumage of magnificent riflebirds. Their feathers combine melanin (a pigment) with distinct structures that trap and absorb light.

This dark fabric could eventually end up in cameras, solar panels, and telescopes. For now, t