The most amazing skins in the world can be found in the sea, stretched over the bodies of octopuses, squid and cuttlefish. These animals, collectively known as cephalopods, can change the colour, shape and texture of their skin at a whim—just watch the ‘rock’ in the video above suddenly reveal its true nature. Their camouflage is also adaptive. Unlike, say, a stick insect or stonefish, which are limited to one disguise, an octopus’s shifting skin allows it to mimic a multitude of backgrounds. It sees, it becomes.

No man-made technology comes close. But one, at least, is nudging in the right direction.

A team of scientists led by Cunjiang Yu at the University of Houston and John Rogers at the