Published in Physics World, 23 Jul 2009
A structure much like a liquid crystal allows the shell of a scarab beetle to circularly polarize light, scientists in the US have discovered.
Mohan Srinivasarao of the Georgia Institute of Technology and colleagues have used microscopy techniques to show that the iridescent green scarab beetle (Plusiotis gloriosa), has a shell that contains a helical structure, rather like a “cholesteric” liquid crystal. […]
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