Clever Colours

April 12, 2001

THE butterfly's wing is a metaphor for bright and vivid colour. But new research is showing there's something very special about butterfly colours. Unlike most colours we see around us, those on a butterfly are generated by minute structures on the surface of the scales. And looking at these structures is not as arcane as you might think - they my just give us the big breakthrough into new data storage and communications technologies. www.abc.net.au/quantum/s272743.htm