Biomimetics combines the study of natural materials with the adoption of design principles to improve what we can construct. We study the optical biomimetics of plants and insects, for intriguing photonic effects.
multilayer structural colour in microdishes |
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iridescent fruit |
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scatter and reflection of buttercups |
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learning from squids to make reflectin colours Squids can use and change colours at will. Some of their tricks use a protein called reflectin which can stack into multilayers that reflect specific colours, a structural-based colour. We worked with the Cambridge iGEM team to express this protein in bacteria, and explore the photonic effects. |
References
[3] “Pointillist structural colour in Pollia condensata fruit”, PNAS (2012)
[2] “Mimicry of Papilio blumei’s colourful wing scale structure”, Nature Nanotechnology 5, 511 (2010)
[1] “Directional Scattering from…: how the buttercup lights up your chin”, J.R.Soc.Interface (2011); DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2011.0759