Scientists have come up with a process to change the color of gold.
Gold can now be manipulated to become a different color other than rose gold, white gold or its signature shiny golden hue.
Scientists have found a way to change the color of gold to reflect red or green and other hues.
The same technique can be used on silver and aluminum too.
The metals have to be embossed with raised or indented patterns on the surface to change the way the metal reflects or absorbs light and what color is then visible to the human eye.
Professor Nikolay Zheludev, leader of the nanophotonics and metamaterials team at Southampton University said the application of this technique may range from being used on jewelry to being added as a security measure for currency, as the resulting gold metals are very hard to forge or copy.
A different color changing technology with many applications has been licensed from University of California Riverside to a Santa Clara based company called The Idea Zoo.
It involves nanocrystals that can be manipulated by magnetic fields to change colors on command.
Idea zoo has plans to develop and sell the technology to make high security and color changing products.
