When some color becomes the current fascination, it is described as “the new black,” as if black is the standard by which all fashion fads should be judged.

But what happens when the standard gets redefined?

Scientists in New York have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955% of light that hits it, making it the darkest substance ever created, “about 30 times darker than the government’s current standard for black.”

I wonder how many tax dollars were spent as the government came up with a standard for what black is.

The material is said to give viewers a “dizzying sense of nothingness.”  It is part of a research project designed to create stealthy cloaks that will render the wearer virtually invisible.

The obvious question would be what, exactly, the government’s standard for invisibility happens to be.