White Beetle Dazzles Scientists


	White Beetle Dazzles Scientists

ninadalton

7-14-2008 4:27 AM

197 views

tags:

beetle, science, insects, color, microscope, scales, white, pigment

ninadalton says:

The Cyphochilus beetle has been found to have the whitest color on earth due to their miniscule scales.

Add a Comment

Login to Comment. Not a member yet? Sign up

Over The Top Limousines

saxo-vw

Today's Topic: What's Weird in the Wikis

Climate Change -- Caused Tree Death in Ca

MythBusters: Beatles

Tobogganing in the 21st Century....

More clips from ninadalton

To draw...

My Favourite Liar

Today's Top Clips

visit the Top Clips page

View the Top Clips from July 14, 2008

Embed This Clip In Your Site...

<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/4e2aae97-598a-4efa-aa6f-26a6cd3a2761/9D070F4B-3293-45DB-A22F-313B9686482E/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm" style="font-size: 11px;">news.bbc.co.uk</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm"><DIV class="sh">
					White beetle dazzles scientists
				</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm"><P>
<FONT size="2">The finger-tip sized <I>Cyphochilus</I> beetle, found in south-east Asia, had a shell whiter than most other materials found in nature, UK researchers said.
</FONT></P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm"><FONT size="2">But, said Dr Vukusic, the group also wanted to find out the sort of system that would physically create such dazzling whiteness. 
</FONT></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/news.bbc.co.uk/img/99DFE4B6-8F7B-4378-8E34-39DC9BB10560" alt="" /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm"><FONT size="2">The researchers found the beetle's shell was covered with ultra-thin scales, measuring just five micrometres (millionths of a metre), with highly random internal 3D structures.  
</FONT></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm"><FONT size="2">This irregular structure, explained Dr Vukusic, was the cause of the beetle's whiteness.
</FONT></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm"><FONT size="2">While colour, he explained, could be created through highly ordered structures, whiteness is achieved through very random features that scatter all colours simultaneously.  
</FONT></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6272485.stm"><FONT size="2">The researchers believe industry might draw inspiration from the beetle to enhance the whiteness of synthetic objects, such as papers, plastics, paints or white-light displays.
</FONT></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/9D070F4B-3293-45DB-A22F-313B9686482E/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>