Taiwan research center unveils reusable paper (video)
If you’ve been to a modern supermarket then you’ve seen the heat sensitive paper used to print receipts. Today a team of Taiwan scientists unveiled a new type of paper that you can print and use heat to wipe clear. This new paper should be good for up to 260 times. It’s called "i2R e-paper", and its creators think it could be used for large bulletin boards, posters and signs.
This isn’t your average paper, though. It’s rewritable qualities come from the CLC (cholestric liquid crystal) film that coats the surface.
I think any large surface use would be too difficult to be worthwhile. I expect that this will more likely be used as a supplement to tablets and other digital devices. It would be for when you wanted a copy to persist for longer than your battery life.
Depending on how widely read you are, you might recognize that this new paper tech is similar to an old pipe dream of SF. It’s an idea that goes back 50 years or more. Robert Heinlein came up with something similar back in Time for the Stars, which was published in 1956.
via Reuters
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