Nanotech and colour in nature
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It turns out that some animals have nano-structures, rather than pigments, to create the spectacular colours in their plumage.
Some of the most vivid colours in the animal kingdom are produced by nanostructures scattering light, rather than pigments, say US researchers.
Eric Dufresne and Richard Prum from Yale University and colleagues looked at how bird feather barbs, the structures that branch from the main feather shaft, gave the birds their colours. They found that the barbs contain nanostructures that scatter different light wavelengths, producing the colours.
Forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here
- Lawrence Krauss
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Interesting.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
You might want to revise you current understanding about pigments, once again.
Read the section entitled: "Changing color" at:
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Cuttlefish
Not to be a dick about it, but that link wouldn't change anyones understanding about pigments (there's nothing in there that's new about how they work). It does highlight a very cool mechanism in their application though![Smiling Smiling](/modules/smileys/examples/001.gif)
M
Forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here
- Lawrence Krauss
Benjamin Franklin who said " You learn something new every day" ,which makes me think about, just how much we don't know.![](/sites/www.rationalresponders.com/modules/fckeditor/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/098.gif)
Signature ? How ?