The Color-Changing Paint That Could Cool Your Home Naturally

What if your house could change colors by itself? Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie, but it's actually happening right now. A designer in New York figured out how to make paint that automatically switches from dark to light depending on the temperature outside.

Joe Doucet was fixing up his house when he hit a weird problem. Should he paint it black to soak up heat during winter, or white to stay cool in summer? Turns out, both options stink for half the year. Dark houses become ovens when it gets hot. Light houses offer zero help when temperatures drop.

Then he remembered something from childhood—those mood rings that supposedly changed colors based on your feelings.

How This Crazy Paint Actually Works

Doucet's paint contains tiny liquid crystals that literally rearrange themselves when temperatures change. Below 77 degrees, the paint looks dark gray and absorbs heat. When things warm up, those crystals shift around and the paint gradually turns lighter, eventually becoming almost white.