What Birds Know About Color That You Don’t

We’ve been using pigments and dyes for thousands of years, but they’re not the whole story when it comes to making color. “Structural” color occurs when tiny nanostructures interact with light waves, amplifying certain colors and canceling others. From brilliant bird feathers to butterfly wings, mole hairs to octopus skin, structural color is everywhere in the natural world.
Researchers have tried for years to harness this incredible natural phenomenon in a useful way. Because these colors are so small and complex, and therefore hard to copy, their efforts have met with little success. But novel research using a computer model based in repeated random sampling - a so-called “Monte Carlo” model - is showing promise. Using this approach, scientists have been able to mimic the gorgeous blue of the mountain bluebird in a thin film of reflective beads, leapfrogging millennia of evolution.
For more details on the Monte Carlo model described in the video, check out Hwang, V., Stephenson, A. B., et al. PNAS 2021: www.pnas.org/c...
The graphic at 3:15 is based on an SEM image from the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
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#science #color #chemistry

[@AmerChemSociety]

For more details on the Monte Carlo model described in the video, check out Hwang, V., Stephenson, A. B., et al. PNAS 2021: www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2015551118.short

[@hooryarmehrabi8878]

I'm really impressed! Thanks

[@JGHFunRun]

It's also possible to do something like this to silicon. And you can make basically any response pattern you want! The Thought Emporium has a video about rugate filters where he does this
There are a few different problems: It requires some nasty chemicals such as Hydrofluoric Acid, which is a weak acid but _extremely_ toxic and corrosive because fluorine would "like" to bond to something other than hydrogen such as sodium. And it _will_ take it if it finds it because fluorine is highly electronegative, in fact it's the most electronegative element (more accurately it wants an electron that's easier to take than hydrogen's electrons are such as from sodium or calcium). Also it's on silicon, which isn't exactly flexible. Also silicon absorbs more blue light so you can't have as good blues as you could in something else, and since HF etches silicon even without the current flowing through it the silicon will eventually dissolve. Sadly I only know it's possible for silicon so I can't tell you if it works for anything else

[@esmith22015]

😯 I was just reading about the difference between pigment & structural coloring in birds, (am a huge bird nerd). This is so cool!

[@AlexDainisPhD]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It was super fun to explore all of the different ways the world around us creates color :)

[@corrinjessen]

Birds will definitely get you into the science of color. I remember trying to tell my step mom that blue jays are actually brown and it’s the way light hits them that makes them appear blue. She did not believe me😂

[@JGHFunRun]

@@corrinjessen Well you are actually wrong on that. The compound that their wings is made out of is brown, yes, but structural color is still being X color

[@superhalfmoon]

This video has changed the way I’m thinking about nature. This can’t happen without a doer!

[@pramodkeshav1120]

Awesome thank you so much 💐👌👍

[@ldballoon4]

amazing, well done!

[@TonkaJay]

I love cider and sour beers.

[@phdthoughts8404]

Indeed, still a long journey to travel

[@lindasmith7814]

No way this can happen without a creator. Praise God !

[@cryptic2071]

Nature and scientific evolution

[@snekek1564]

@@cryptic2071lmao yes

[@yommish]

why not?

[@commiecomrade2644]

Lol what a leap.

[@lindasmith7814]

No way this can be without a creator.

[@quirkyMakes]

yup we can already do that. We don't because we love our dollars more than life.