From eyes to lenses
US researchers have created a plastic lens modelled on an octopus eye which can focus light five times more strongly than a human eye. The main benefits of this type of lens is that they weight only a quarter of normal glass lenses, and are soft - meaning they could be adjusted (e.g., re-focussed) simply by bending or squeezing them. This could result in better and lighter cameras, and in light, flat glasses to correct human vision. Yet another example where biomimetics (copying nature for our technology) serves useful!