Doritos are a revered snack for many. Now, scientists have found one of the ingredients in the triangle-shaped tasty tortilla chips has a superpower – it can make the skin of mice transparent.

Researchers at Stanford University detail, in the Sept. 6 issue of the journal Science, how they were able to see through the skin of live mice by applying a mixture of water and tartrazine, a bright yellow-orange food coloring used in Doritos and other foods, drugs, and cosmetics.

The experiments arose from the quest for better methods to see tissue and organs within the body. The researchers chose tartrazine because the dye's molecules absorb blue and ultraviolet light, which makes it easier for light to pass through the mouse skin.

“For those who understand the fundamental physics behind this, it makes sense; but if you aren’t familiar with it, it looks like a magic trick,” said Zihao Ou, the lead author of the study who is now an assistant professor of physics at The University of Texas at Dallas, in a description of the research on the university's website.

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Before you start slathering yourself in Doritos – the coloring is used in several Doritos flavors including Nacho Cheese, Cool Ranch and Flaming Hot Nacho – tartrazine won't necessarily give humans a cloak of invisibility á la Harry Potter.

That's because human skin is about 10 times thicker than a mouse and it's not sure how much of the dye – or how it would be administered – is needed to work in humans, Ou said.