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The light-dependent magnetic compass of night-migratory songbirds is widely hypothesized to rely on the radical pair mechanism within retinal cryptochrome. However, bridging the mechanistic gap between microsecond quantum spin dynamics and…
The structure of the cuticle of arthropods consists of layers of microfilamentary chitin particles. The layers are stacked one on top of the other realizing a helical (Bouligand helix) pattern. This structure generates optical phenomena…
Structural coloration offers a sustainable and non-fading alternative to conventional pigment- and dye-based colorants. In this study, we present a scalable strategy for generating vivid, tunable structural colors using ultrathin films of…
A simplified model of the bird skeleton along with elongation parameters for the flight feathers is used to explore the diversity of bird shapes. Varying a small number of parameters simulates a wide range of observed bird silhouettes. The…
The rational design of photonic nanostructures consists in anticipating their optical response from simple models or as variations of reference systems. This strategy is limited when different objectives are simultaneously targeted.…
Prions are misfolded proteins that transmit their structural arrangement to neighboring proteins. In biological systems, prion dynamics can produce a variety of complex functional outcomes. Yet, an understanding of prionic causes has been…
Biological composites offer self-healing properties, biocompatibility, high responsivity to external stimuli, and multifunctionality, due, in part, to their complex, hierarchical microstructure. Such materials can be inexpensively grown,…
Colorizing a given gray-level image is an important task in the media and advertising industry. Due to the ambiguity inherent to colorization (many shades are often plausible), recent approaches started to explicitly model diversity.…
The increasing demand for renewable energy is promoting technologies that integrate solar energy harvesting materials with the human living environment, such as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs). This places requirements on…
Characterizing structural and dynamic properties of proteins and large macromolecular assemblies is crucial to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying biological functions. In the field of Structural Biology, no single method…
Photonic balls are spheres tens of micrometers in diameter containing assemblies of nanoparticles or nanopores with a spacing comparable to the wavelength of light. When these nanoscale features are disordered, but still correlated, the…
Silica-carbonate biomorphs are a class of emergent materials, i.e. composite microstructures made of nanometric carbonate crystallites surrounded by amorphous silica. They form via a co-precipitation process in an interplay between alkaline…
Studying shape changing thick surfaces induced by differential growth helps us understand morphogenesis in biology and offers opportunities for device design. While ideal 2D differential growth maps have been well studied for both isotropic…
Nature has engineered complex designs to achieve advanced properties and functionalities through evolution, over millions of years. Many organisms have adapted to their living environment producing extremely efficient materials and…
We consider flocks of artificial birds and study the emergence of V-like formations during flight. We introduce a small set of fully distributed positioning rules to guide the birds' movements and demonstrate, by means of simulations, that…
The possible mechanisms of communications between distant bio-systems by means of optical and UV photons are studied. It is argued that their main production mechanism is owed to the biochemical reactions, occurring during the cell…
Phyllotactic patterns, i.e. regular arrangements of leaves or seeds around a plant stem, are fascinating examples of complex structures encountered in Nature. In botany, their symmetries develop when a new primordium periodically grows in…
Photoactive proteins absorb light and undergo structural changes that enable them to perform essential biological functions. These proteins are critical for understanding light-induced biological processes, making them important in…
The wings of Lepidoptera contain a matrix of living cells whose function requires appropriate temperatures. However, given their small thermal capacity, wings can overheat rapidly in the sun. Here we analyze butterfly wings across a wide…
Synthetic opals, based on self-assembly of polymeric nanoparticles generally produces fainted/pale structural colors due to too many lattice flaws in the structures. Here we produces carbon nanotubes (CNTs) incorporated high quality 3D…