Polymer Opals

Squeezing out opal-like colours by the mile

03 June 2016

Researchers have devised a new method for stacking microscopic marbles into regular layers, producing intriguing materials which scatter light into intense colours, and which change colour when twisted or stretched.

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Detail of Kingfisher, woodblock printed in colour, Kitagawa Utamaro

Why does the kingfisher have blue feathers?

12 August 2015

°Õ³ó±ðÌýCambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, K is for Kingfisher. Look out for them among the swamp cypresses at the Botanic Garden, where the secrets behind their cyan and blue feathers are being studied by an extraordinary collaboration of scientists.

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Trapping the light fantastic

16 June 2014

̽»¨Ö±²¥development of a ‘nanobarrel’ that traps and concentrates light onto single molecules could be used as a low-cost and reliable diagnostic test.

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