structural color
31. Rapid color change used for protection: cuttlefish
"Under the skin of the cuttlefish is arrayed a dense layer of elastic pigment sacs called chromatophores. By using this layer, they can change the apparent colour of their skin, which not only helps in camouflage but also acts as a way to communic...
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32. Lipochromes create red feathers: scarlet macaw
"In this first examination of the variety of colourful pigments present in parrot feathers, we studied 44 parrot species from 27 genera and found that they all use the same set of five lipochromes to colour their feathers red…Red parrot fea...
33. Microscopic plates produce interference colors: copepods
"A strange copepod called Sapphirina shows dramatic interference colours. Microscopic plates in its surface layers are so arranged as to produce a flash of colour when viewed from certain angles. From other angles, the copepod appears quite transp...
34. Pigment granules assist hiding: ray-finned fish
"Many fish in the teleost group, such as the minnow, change colour in response to the overall reflectivity of their background. Light reaching their retina from above is compared in the brain to that reflected from the background below. The interp...
35. Interwoven trees gain structural support: tropical trees
"In tropical jungles, with their great variety of species, we encounter a multitude of mechanical ideas for construction…We also find thin trunks joining into bundles, supporting each other and forming an upward winding spiral. Obviously, t...
36. Pressure provides structural support: blackback land crab
"Here we show that whenever its exoskeleton is shed, the blackback land crab Gecarcinus lateralis relies on an unconventional type of hydrostatic skeleton that uses both gas and liquid (a 'pneumo-hydrostat'). To our knowledge, this is the first ex...
37. Continuous fibers prevent structural weakness: trees
"There has been relatively little attempt to produce an artificial analogue to wood because wood is cheap, lightweight, tough, moldable, and easily shaped. However, when a hole is drilled in timber, it weakens the structure. The tree, however, dri...
38. Structural composition provides strength in changing conditions: plants
"Plant cells need to be fully hydrated to work properly (except in periods of dormancy, as for example in many seeds). Individual vegetative cells in plants, unlike those in animals, are encased in a cellulose cell wall. The cellulose cell wall ma...
39. Sherry
Fossil leaf beetle found after 600,000 years, still has its structural color: http://bit.ly/c9U0xH
40. mirasol™ display technology
"Qualcomm's mirasol displays bring living color to technology by applying one of nature's most remarkable innovations-the butterfly's wings. These highly developed structures reflect light so that specific wavelengths interfere with each other to ...
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