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Beetle Naturally Builds Photonic Crystals
esocid writes "Impeding the dream of ultrafast optical computers, we've been unable to build an ideal 'photonic crystal' to manipulate visible light, until now. University of Utah chemists have discovered that nature already has designed photonic crystals with the ideal, diamond-like structure: They are found in the shimmering, iridescent green scales of a beetle from Brazil. The beetle is an inch-long weevil named Lamprocyphus augustus. Bartl and Galusha now are trying to design a synthetic version of the beetle's photonic crystals, using scale material as a mold to make the crystals from a transparent semiconductor. The scales can't be used in technological devices because they are made of fingernail-like chitin, which is not stable enough for long-term use, is not semiconducting and doesn't bend light adequately. Ideal photonic crystals could be used to amplify light and thus make solar cells more efficient, to capture light that would catalyze chemical reactions, and to generate tiny laser beams that would serve as light sources on optical chips."
Bartl and Galusha now are trying to design a synthetic version of the beetle's photonic crystals, using scale material as a mold to make the crystals from a transparent semiconductor.
Man, I remember when I studied this in school. The crystals weren't lining up right no matter what I tried. Eventually I solved it by continuously rotating them during the growing stage, while simultaneously directing acoustic vibrations into their center. I called this the "Twist and Shout" method.
-- Jon Titor
Decades of computer debugging efforts wiped out by naturalist...
Well it's probably for the best that we can't simply use the scales else the poor little devils would likely be on the fast track of the endangered species list.
Two Parts Swash, One Part Buckle
Some day we'll find ready-made mattresses somewhere...
I don't feel like it...
I know it is sickeningly overused, but where will they get the tiny sharks for these tiny lasers?
We all know the answer...
Seamonkeys!!!!
So, are they going to pay Brazil for the use of one of their "natural resources"?
If they don't Brazil (and others) may continue wiping out their biodiversity that could yield similar or greater benefits (cancer drugs, anyone?) to the global village. If the host country does not benefit (=get paid) for preserving biodiversity, what's their incentive?
We could now go into the whole climate change debate, but that should be obvious to everyone.
The summary starts out by saying the beetle has ideal crystals, only to finish by saying they can't be used because they are not ideal.
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I vollue and globber floopily to you.
is because of it's ability to do this. Many living things (bugs, fish, plants, few birds) have this trait. Even still we humans have a hard time even making good 2-D photonic crystals let alone 3-D.
How many petaflops could you process with a Beetle Cluster?
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
For Aiur!
I find it more ironic that your telling us that probably leaks out some of your private information, assuming that you are not taking positive measures to prevent Google from accumulating a search profile. And even if you are, the info would tell us something about the searches associated with your IP address.
Personally, I get much more geek points, my ads were for:
* Optical System Design - ZEMACS
* The Theory of Everything
* Spectral Products : Fiber/LED/tunable light sources
photonic structure in nature is not new there are many places eg http://newton.ex.ac.uk/research/emag/butterflies/downloadable_papers.html looking at structure within various insects, looking to replicate it, the beetles talked about with in the article have been studied before.
- if we can get enough bugs into it.
Once those beetles can fart at escape velocity it's all over.
NT required.
So, it makes one wonder what other great secrets lie in wait in the Amazon - if we could get the bastards to stop destroying it.
What advantage can this confer? It could be a sexual selection trait that other beetles are attracted to, or reflects light in a specific wavelength that other beetles can see from a distance. Or perhaps it reflects light in such a way that its most common predators have a difficult time seeing it, maybe a part of the spectrum that they have poor perception in.
The fact is that there could be any number of reasons, just because you can't think of one doesn't mean natural selection didn't find one.
Even a 1% or less change can mean the difference between life and death, the difference between being spotted by a passing bird or being thought of as a leaf, that knife edge of happenstance.
The scales can't be used in technological devices because they are made of fingernail-like chitin, which is not stable enough for long-term use, is not semiconducting and doesn't bend light adequately.
The obvious solution is to genetically engineer the beetles to replace the chitin with Photonic crystals. This would provide a self-reproducing source and it's show those uppity fireflies what's up.
welcome our photonic crystal building beetle overlords