Ecocidal maniacs consider alternatives to destroying the planet with glitter:
Bacterial glitter - New findings open up possibilities for sustainable color technologies
Jul 2024, phys.org
Scientists sequenced the DNA of 87 structurally colored bacteria and 30 colorless strains and identified genes that are responsible for these fascinating colonies."We discovered that the genes responsible for structural color are mainly found in oceans, freshwater, and special habitats such as intertidal zones and deep-sea areas. In contrast, microbes in host-associated habitats such as the human microbiome displayed very limited structural color,"Surprisingly, these genes are also found in bacteria that live in deep oceans without sunlight. This could imply that the colors could reflect deeper processes of cell organization with important functions, such as protecting the bacteria from viruses, or efficiently colonizing floating food particles.
via Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Utrecht University, University of Cambridge, and the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research: Colin J. Ingham et al, Structural color in the bacterial domain: The ecogenomics of a 2-dimensional optical phenotype, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2309757121
Related image credit: Wing scales of a butterfly Papilio ulysses on a medical syringe needle - Daniel Knop Nikon Small World 12th Place - 2024 [link]
Study reveals why orange netting packaging makes oranges look more appealing
Aug 2024, phys.org
The "confetti illusion" - Food growers learned a long time ago that if they packed oranges in orange netting, the oranges inside look more orange, which the mind interprets as a more luscious ripe fruit. The same thing is true for yellow netting for lemons and green netting for limes.This research shows that the change in fruit color is not due to the way light reflects off the netting but that sensory stimuli are made of partial information and assembled into images only after the brain has knitted together input from several sources.
via Giessen University: Karl R. Gegenfurtner, Perceptual ripening of oranges, i-Perception (2024). DOI: 10.1177/20416695241258748
Synthetic molecular switch enables 'painting' with natural light
Oct 2024, phys.org
A synthetic molecular switch made up of the organic molecule triptycene and a class of compounds called hydrazones can trigger shape changes in liquid crystals that allow them to reflect different colors.When chiral triptycene interacts with a liquid crystal molecule, it rearranges other liquid crystal molecules in twisted, DNA-like helices, which then reflect ambient light at different wavelengths based on their pitch, or how far apart the coils in their helical structure are spaced.
via Dartmouth and Southern Methodist University: Indu Bala et al, Multi-stage and multi-colour liquid crystal reflections using a chiral triptycene photoswitchable dopant, Nature Chemistry (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41557-024-01648-0
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