This is cool and has many applications, especially with cars!
From left, aluminum turned a gold color, titanium turned to blue, and platinum turned gold.
Excerpt:
"In a feat of optical alchemy, Dr. Guo, a professor of optics at the University of Rochester, and Anatoliy Y. Vorobyev, a postdoctoral researcher, use ultrashort laser bursts to pockmark the surface of a metal in a way that is not perceptible to the touch — it still feels smooth to the finger — but that alters how the metal absorbs and reflects light."
NYT Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/science/31metal.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Slashdot discussion:
http://science.slashdot.org/science/08/02/01/1615253.shtml
Original paper for purchase:
http://link.aip.org/link/?APPLAB/92/041914/1
FYI.
Best,
Kurt