Netflix might have you believe that Orange is the New Black, but a few scientists in Britain have come up with a new shade of black that is definitely...well, the new black.
Vantablack, created by the scientific folks at Surrey NanoSystems, is a material that has made headlines thanks to the fact that it's now the darkest material known to man, absorbing just 0.35% of the light that hits it.
That means that it is as close to a black hole as has ever been created, and the human eye struggles to make out its form and shape thanks to the fact that it's so dark.
It's made up of carbon nanotubes, which are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair, arranged vertically which allows as little light as possible to be reflected back from the material, rather it can only pass through the gaps in between the tiny nanotubes. The material is also incredibly strong, so much so that it's ten times stronger than steel, and also conducts heat seven times better than copper.
It was developed by the lab for the defence and space exploration sectors, and is expected to be a big help in the building of telescopes, which will allow them to detect even the faintest of stars.
