Teinopalpus imperialis tagged posts

A team of physicists that visualized the internal nanostructure of an intact butterfly wing has discovered two physical attributes that make those structures so bright and colorful. Credit: © boule1301 / Fotolia

A team of physicists that visualized the internal nanostructure of an intact butterfly wing has discovered 2 physical attributes that make those structures so bright and colorful. “Over millions of years, butterflies have evolved sophisticated cellular mechanisms to grow brightly colored structures, normally for the purpose of camouflage as well as mating,” says A/prof Oleg Shpyrko, Physics, UC SD. “It’s been known for a century that the wings of these beautiful creatures contain what are called photonic crystals, which can reflect light of only a particular color.”

But exactly ho...