A Gooty Sapphire Ornamental tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica), which served as a
source of biological inspiration for the research.
Credit: Cathy Keifer/Dreamstime
A brilliant-blue tarantula may give many people the heebie-jeebies, but for a group of scientists, the arachnid was the inspiration for a new hue that could transform digital screens.
The new pigment is called a structural color, and is thought of as superior to dye-based pigments in consumer products, the researchers said. Unlike pigments, structural colors are produced when light interacts with nanostructures that are about the same size as the wavelengths of light — for example, blue or red light, according to the researchers.
"Structural colors are more vibrant and durable than the pigments used in most human-made products," lead study author Bor-Kai (Bill) Hsiung, a biomimicry researcher at The University of Akron, said in a statement. https://www.livescience.com/58031-tarantula-hair-inspired-nonfading-color.html
