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FUNCTION OF IRIDESCENCE. "Because iridescent colours are so striking in appearance, it is tempting to ascribe a communicative function to all forms of iridescence. Yet, the evolution of iridescence predates the evolution of eyes … not all iridescent colours function in communication." A lovely review. https://lnkd.in/dmEiMbu View in LinkedIn

NOVEL PROTEINS. "Over 25% of the genes expressed in the mantle of the vetigastropod Haliotis asinina encode secreted proteins, indicating that hundreds of proteins are likely to be contributing to shell fabrication and patterning. Almost 85% of the secretome encodes novel proteins." https://lnkd.in/daJFnVB View in LinkedIn

SHELL PHOTONIC CRYSTALS. "The dry ligament of Pinctada maxima normally appears black; however, it can exhibit striking blue structural colors after being wetted by water. The field-mission SEM investigation shows that the ligament is made of lamellae … the fibers are highly aligned characterized by a 2D photonic crystal type structure." http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11434-007-0142-z View in LinkedIn

GENETIC CONTROL OF NANOFABRICATION. "Instructions to fabricate mineralized structures with distinct nanoscale architectures, such as seashells and coral and vertebrate skeletons, are encoded in the genomes of a wide variety of animals." https://lnkd.in/daJFnVB View in LinkedIn

STRUCTURAL COLORS OF NACRE. "The lustrous nacre of the abalone shell is made up of polygonal (usually hexagonal) tiles of a very hard crystalline form of calcium carbonate, aragonite, cemented in a thin matrix of conchiolin – polysaccharide and protein fibres. The tiles are each a single crystal and are tessellated in stacked layers. Each layer is 0.5 micron thick.” https://lnkd.in/d8KK5dD View in LinkedIn

MANTLE KNOWLEDGE. "Because the mantle wraps around the top edge of the shell, it senses, in addition to the exposed edge, some previous history of pigmentation a distance back from the leading edge. Pigmentation near the leading edge has an excitatory effect on local secretion, whereas pigmentation sensed further from the edge has an inhibitory effect." https://lnkd.in/dqhz3rW View in LinkedIn

SEASHELL IRIDESCENCE. "Nacre is iridescent because the thickness of the calcium carbonate layer is similar to the wavelength of light. Light reflected from the outer surface is therefore able to interfere with light reflected from the inner surface. Constructive and destructive interference of different wavelengths of light produces different colors when viewed at different angles of incident light." https://lnkd.in/dw-9h_i View in LinkedIn

HUMBLE LIMPET IRRIDESCENT SPOTS. "Apart from the well-known pearly appearance on the smooth inside surfaces of many shells, iridescent coloration is relatively rare for seashells. A possible reason could be that their outside surfaces are invariably exposed to harsh abrasive conditions, which will quickly erode away any delicate microstructure smooth enough to create optical interference effects." https://lnkd.in/dtxJCX4 View in LinkedIn

STRUCTURAL COLORS IN NATURE. A lovely summary of irridescence physics in natural objects, and the effects of diffraction gratings and light interference. https://lnkd.in/dxCbUNp View in LinkedIn

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