Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have created new display technology using a liquid filled with plastic-coated iron oxide particles. The highly charged particles repel one another and arrange themselves in an ordered structure called colloidal photonic crystal. Each of the particles would become a pixel that represents a unique color. The particles in the liquid can then be controlled with a magnet that is placed behind it. Because the microscopic spacing between the particles is equal to the wavelength of light, the surface reflects light. The researchers were able to create a range of colors, and believe this new technology could be used to make large displays much cheaper than current LCDs. It is highly visible outdoors, and could also be used for flexible, rewritable electronic paper.