Cutting-edge hyperspectral microscopy has allowed scientists to unravel the intricate nanostructures that create the dazzling colors of butterfly wings, providing unprecedented insights into the biological mechanisms behind these natural wonders.
Decoding the Structural Secrets
The beauty of butterflies lies mostly in their captivating hues, which scientists have been intrigued by for quite some time but never really understood how these brilliant colors were created.
Until recently it was thought that butterflies create those colors with pigments, like mixing paint. But new research has shown that butterflies and other insects develop their colourful wings not from pigments (e.g. carotenoids, melanins) but due to the use intricate nanostructures, called structural colors.
Butterflies get their iridescence from nanoscale structural arrays interacting with light in complicated ways: the scales—tiny structures a few hundred nanometers across—that cover the wings reflect and refract light to produce an incredible range of colors. However, up until now, scientists had a hard time figuring out just what exactly was happening inside these architectures.
Unveiling the Butterfly’s Secrets
That is, until the dawn of hyperspectral microscopy! Using this state-of-the-art imaging technology, Dr Harper and his team are able to measure the colour produced by these nanostructures at a microscopic level – enabling unprecedented insights into how they form.
The research was led by Dr. Annie Jessop, a post-doctoral fellow from Murdoch University’s School of Mathematics, Statistics, Chemistry and Physics, and has been published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. And her team has also shown that hyperspectral microscopy is capable of providing the spatial, temporal and spectral resolution needed to assess those optical nanostructures over time in living butterflies.
That happens because “Butterflies, and most other insects, produce color using nanostructures—this is known as structural color,” says Dr. Jessop. Though we understand a Iot about how those structures generate color, much less is known about how they form in the biological world.
With this high-end microscopy method, the researchers could track over time how colors from the nanostructures were generated and therefore deduced the intricate development of such features.
Conclusion
The research marked the first time hyperspectral microscopy was used to unlock the biological mechanisms behind butterfly coloration. Exposure of the intricate nanostructures behind these colours can help scientists more fully understand how these living gems have evolved and why they are so successful in nature This new frontier in nature exploration invites us to experience with the power of technology, the most in-depth understanding we have so far, about how holidays work on life on water.
