Month: September 2022

SCARAB BEETLE DIFFRACTION GRATINGS. "A diffraction grating is any nanoscale array of parallel ridges or slits that disperses white light into its constituent wavelengths. Iridescence arising from diffraction gratings always takes the form of ... ordered spectra ... colours are ordered in the same sequence as the colours in the spectrum of visible light." https://lnkd.in/dRSiEq2 View in LinkedIn

REVERSIBLE COLORS. "In a few species of beetles, reversible colour change is effected by partially hydrating or dehydrating multilayer structures, thus changing the refractive index of porous layers; this mechanism is also known as ‘hygrochromic colour’." https://lnkd.in/dRSiEq2 View in LinkedIn

BIOMIMICRY. "Professor Andrew Parker has grown cells from butterfly wings and weevil shells in his lab at the museum, bringing scientists a step closer to creating shimmering colours which never fade. "These shimmering colours are not caused by pigments or dyes but materials with a nano-structure." https://lnkd.in/dWW45k6 View in LinkedIn

DURABLE IRIDESCENCE. "We have dug up 49 million year old beetles and they are still the same colour that they were when they died". https://lnkd.in/dWW45k6 View in LinkedIn

LONDON'S NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM STUDIES. "Professor Parker and colleagues have been able to culture an entire ‘Morpho peliedes’ (blue morpho) butterfly forewing from cells dissected from the chrysalis." https://lnkd.in/dWW45k6 View in LinkedIn

COMMERCIAL QUANTITIES. "It is the first time researchers have been able to accurately manufacture these structures in the lab and are now working on up-scaling the process to produce large enough quantities of for commercial use." https://lnkd.in/dWW45k6 View in LinkedIn

CULTURED IRIDESCENT DIATOMS. "UK scientists have now found an extremely effective way of growing diatoms in controlled laboratory conditions, with potential for scale-up to industrial level." https://lnkd.in/dpQ_gxV View in LinkedIn

CULTURED DIATOMS. "This would enable diatom shells to be mass-produced, harvested and mixed into paints, cosmetics and clothing to create stunning colour-changing effects, or embedded into polymers to produce difficult-to-forge holograms." (Natural History Museum and Oxford University). https://lnkd.in/dpQ_gxV View in LinkedIn

BIOMIMICRY PAINT COMPANY. "Lifescaped, led by Professor Andrew Parker, is pioneering biomimetics: the science of learning from nature’s design principles. The team is trying to benefit from the trials and errors of 3.9 billion years of evolution."" " https://lnkd.in/dqVuX64 View in LinkedIn

NEW IRIDESCENT PAINTS. "Schenk set about finding pigments with similar reflective and color-changing qualities. She discovered that major advances had been made in color-shifting nanoparticles, but they were only produced for industrial uses, such as car finishes and cosmetics ... Schenk was able to adapt the industrial nanoparticles for artistic use." https://lnkd.in/dRdF4Z6 View in LinkedIn