Every day, scientists are coming out
with new innovations to improve our lives.
Pills to reverse aging,
plants that taste like real meat
and a watch that can tell time.
I don't know how Apple did it.
And now scientists at MIT have made a breakthrough
with the color black, and there's no going back.
Well, a scientific breakthrough at MIT to tell you about
involving the color, or non-color, black.
Engineers have developed what they're calling
the blackest black on the planet.
They've cooked up the color using carbon nanotubes.
This new black is apparently ten times blacker
than anything previously recorded.
-Can you see it? -No.
(laughs) I know. It's a little hard.
But researchers say that this could serve a practical purpose.
The blackest black could end up being used
inside telescopes used to spot faraway planets.
The blackest black on the planet?
Why?
Who's ever been in the dark and thought,
"Eh, this could be way darker. Yeah"?
And why are there scientists at MIT who just make colors?
That's what kindergarteners do.
You telling me some engineer's working
on a more efficient solar panel and the guy next to him is like,
"Yellow and blue makes green!"
Oh, and if you're wondering
if you'll ever see this blackest black in the real world,
well, turns out BMW is already working on it.
REPORTER: BMW is taking one of its special edition cars
and painting it the blackest black on Earth.
The company says its newest X6 model
will be unveiled next month with one version
in what's called a Vantablack finish,
considered one of the darkest shades of black on Earth,
with the pigments absorbing 99% of light.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is a great idea, BMW.
This is-- this is what everyone needs,
a car that you can't see coming.
Mm, mm. Yeah.
Takes the terror out of being run over as a pedestrian.
Because, one minute, you're walking and then you're not.
Ah, what happened?
It'd also give a whole new meaning to Uber Black.
Yeah. You'll be like, "Where the hell is this guy?"
He's like, "You're already in my car."
(screams, groans)
"Five stars for sneaky."
For more on this exciting new development,
please welcome our senior science expert
Roy Wood Jr., everybody!
(cheering and applause)
Thank you. Thank you.
I know blackness.
Trevor, I've been following
this blackest black story very closely,
and I'm not the only one.
A couple of store managers have been following it around, too.
Just to make sure.
And I have to be honest.
This ain't the blackest black.
Whoa, Roy, why would you-- why would you say that?
Well, first off, look at what they named it.
If you had a black
and you knew it was the blackest of all the blacks,
you wouldn't just call it "the blackest black."
You'd give it a cool name, like, a cool black name
like T'Challa or R-Roy.
Every other color gets its own name.
Mahogany isn't called "super red."
Navy isn't called "dark-ass blue."
You wouldn't call emerald "greener than a mother(bleep)."
"The blackest black"--
that don't even sound like a real thing.
Sound like a slur Jussie Smollett made up.
"And-and then they called me the blackest black."
(sniffles)
"And they beat me up and stole my sandwich."
Also, Trevor, how can we know for sure
it's the blackest black?
They ain't tested it.
Did it go to an HBCU?
Does it go to church for six hours?
Can it make real potato salad?
You gonna call yourself the blackest,
you got to prove yourself.
Roy, Roy, Roy, I think you're confused.
This doesn't have anything to do with culture, all right?
This is about applied science.
It was just basically an experiment in physics.
You saw that car BMW made.
Oh, yeah.
That car was pretty black.
That car's so black, it's the only car
that's prone to diabetes.
Which is my point.
I don't want a car that has to deal
with the same systemic issues as me.
That car's so black, even if it was self-driving,
it'd get pulled over.
"'Scuse me, car,
I'm gonna need you to step out of the car."
O-Okay, Roy, I feel like you're taking this development
a bit personally, man.
No. I'm not taking it personally.
I'm taking it scientifically.
These MIT nerds don't know shit about blackness.
But if they want to come out with the blackest black,
guess what, two can play that game.
'Cause I've invented the whitest white.
In fact, in fact, I got a picture of it right here.
Y'all might want to-- you might want to cover your eyes.
See this whitest white right here.
Bam! That's the whitest white!
-(cheering and applause) -Take that, MIT!
Roy Wood Jr., everyone.