Thanking Adaobi Adibe for suggesting the idea, I replicated her research on making biological tissues transparent using tartrazine, the yellow dye found in Doritos. In my experiment, I soaked chicken breast in a 0.19 M tartrazine solution for 6 hours at room temperature. While I achieved partial transparency—grid lines showed through from underneath—the result didn't match the original paper's success with 0.62 M, 40°C, and a shaker.
The chicken retained its texture but acquired a gummy-bear-like visual quality. The mechanism appears to involve tartrazine shifting water's refractive index to match that of protein and lipid solutions, enhancing transparency. I used >80% pure tartrazine from APC Pure and prepared three concentrations, with the highest at ~0.56 M.
Though the process is messy and raises Salmonella concerns, the FDA deems tartrazine food-safe. I'll explore safer, more controlled replication methods soon.
Source: Hacker News · Résumé par HeadlinesBriefing