Song of the day: “Mary” by Sparkadia
“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.”
- Pablo Picasso
Tina Fey
“We think we know what we are doing. We have always thought so. We never seem to acknowledge that we have been wrong in the past, and so might be wrong in the future. Instead, each generation writes off earlier errors as the result of bad thinking by less able minds - and then confidently embarks on fresh errors of its own.”
- Michael Crichton
Song of the day: “Soul Like Khan” by Soul Khan
![Like a gem-studded overcoat, the diamond weevil’s jet-black wings are covered by pits filled with sparkling, rainbow-colored scales. Researchers have studied these “diamonds” since the weevil’s discovery in the early 19th century but, until recently, no one knew know how the scales reflected so much light.
A new high-tech investigation reveals the diamonds are just that: chitin in a diamond-type arrangement that’s optimized to throw off brilliant greens, yellows and oranges. What most people call diamonds are made of carbon, but other materials can take on the same crystal structure, called diamond cubic.
“Materials scientists could look to these scales to inspire new materials, but we don’t yet know how they are made,” said biophysicist Bodo Wilts of the University of Groningen, co-author of a Dec. 21 study of the scales in Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
“We’ve got some catching up to do,” Wilts said. “The nature-produced tiny structures are far beyond any human designs.”
The scales are a type of three-dimensional crystal, called a photonic crystal, which is much like an opal. Each kind of photonic crystal reflects a specific wavelength of light at a specific orientation. Other crystals lacking a regular 3-D structure, meanwhile, aren’t as brilliant or iridescent.
Wilts’ team used a battery of tools to investigate the photonic studs the inch-long weevil, the Brazilian species of which is known as Entimus imperialis (pictured above). Follow along in this gallery. [via.]](http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx1zpkiGii1qzpvhao1_500.jpg)
Like a gem-studded overcoat, the diamond weevil’s jet-black wings are covered by pits filled with sparkling, rainbow-colored scales. Researchers have studied these “diamonds” since the weevil’s discovery in the early 19th century but, until recently, no one knew know how the scales reflected so much light.
A new high-tech investigation reveals the diamonds are just that: chitin in a diamond-type arrangement that’s optimized to throw off brilliant greens, yellows and oranges. What most people call diamonds are made of carbon, but other materials can take on the same crystal structure, called diamond cubic.
“Materials scientists could look to these scales to inspire new materials, but we don’t yet know how they are made,” said biophysicist Bodo Wilts of the University of Groningen, co-author of a Dec. 21 study of the scales in Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
“We’ve got some catching up to do,” Wilts said. “The nature-produced tiny structures are far beyond any human designs.”
The scales are a type of three-dimensional crystal, called a photonic crystal, which is much like an opal. Each kind of photonic crystal reflects a specific wavelength of light at a specific orientation. Other crystals lacking a regular 3-D structure, meanwhile, aren’t as brilliant or iridescent.
Wilts’ team used a battery of tools to investigate the photonic studs the inch-long weevil, the Brazilian species of which is known as Entimus imperialis (pictured above). Follow along in this gallery. [via.]
“Golden State Wall Art” by 33stewartavenue. Buy it here.
Song of the day: “Twice” by Little Dragon
“There is neither happiness nor unhappiness in this world; there is only the comparison of one state with another. Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss. It is necessary to have wished for death in order to know good it is to live…the sum of all human wisdom will be contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.”
- Alexandre Dumas
