March 14, 2014

Brighter inks, without pigment



NANOSTRUCTURED CAPSULES COULD BRING ABOUT PAINTS AND ELECTRONIC DISPLAYS THAT NEVER FADE

Among the taxidermal specimens in Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, past centuries-old fur coats, arises a flicker of brilliant blue. This is the spangled cotinga. Surprisingly, the cotinga is about as old as everything in the room, but its color is still as dazzling as the day it was brought to the museum. The cotinga—or rather its feathers—achieve this effect through structural color.