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1. NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS VIA NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCI FULL
2. NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS VIA NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCI WINDOWS

They chose to study specimens of Vanessa cardui, as the butterfly’s wings have features that are common across most lepidopteran species. In their new study, he and his colleagues looked to continuously observe how scales grow and assemble in a living, morphing butterfly. “We needed to see more to start understanding it better.” “Previous studies provide compelling snapshots at select stages of development unfortunately, they don’t reveal the continuous timeline and sequence of what happens as scale structures grow,” Kolle says.

Knowing what processes butterflies harness to grow their scales could help to further direct this kind of bioinspired technology development.Ĭurrently, what’s known about scale formation is based on still images of developing and mature butterfly wings. Researchers have tried to replicate the optical and structural properties of butterfly wings to design new solar cells and optical sensors, rain- and heat-resistant surfaces, and even paper currency patterned with iridescent encryptions to discourage counterfeiting. The ridges on a wing’s scales serve as miniature rain gutters and radiators, funneling moisture and heat to keep the insect cool and dry. These microscopic features act as tiny reflectors, bouncing light around to give a butterfly its color and shine. The cross-section of a butterfly’s wing reveals an intricate scaffold of scales and ribs whose structure and arrangement varies from species to species. McDougal’s co-authors at MIT include postdoc Sungsam Kang, research scientist Zahid Yaqoob, professor of mechanical engineering and biological engineering Peter So, and associate professor of mechanical engineering Mathias Kolle. Now we can learn from butterflies’ structural control of these complex, micro-nanostructured materials.” “This strategy might be used, for example, to give both color and self-cleaning properties to automobiles and buildings. “Butterfly wings control many of their attributes by precisely forming the structural architecture of their wing scales,” says lead author Anthony McDougal, a research assistant in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS VIA NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCI WINDOWS

The new visualizations also could serve as a blueprint for designing new functional materials, such as iridescent windows and waterproof textiles. The team’s study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers the most detailed look yet at the budding architecture of butterfly scales.

NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS VIA NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCI FULL

As they reach their full size, the scales sprout thin ridges along their length - tiny corrugated features that control the insect’s color and help it to shed rain and moisture. These cells quickly differentiate into alternating “cover” and “ground” scales, producing an overlapping shingle-like pattern. They observed that, as a wing forms, cells on its surface line up in orderly rows as they grow. With some minor surgery and a clever imaging approach, the researchers were able to watch wing scales form in specimens of Vanessa cardui, commonly known as the Painted Lady butterfly. The team has for the first time continuously observed the wing scales growing and assembling as a developing butterfly transforms inside its chrysalis. Now, MIT engineers have captured the intricate choreography of butterfly scales forming during metamorphosis. The structure and arrangement of these scales give a butterfly its color and shimmer, and help shield the insect from the elements. This lepidopteran dust is made up of tiny microscopic scales, hundreds of thousands of which paper a butterfly’s wings like shingles on a wafer-thin roof. If you brush against the wings of a butterfly, you will likely come away with a fine sprinkling of powder.