Butterfly wings inspire new high-tech surfaces

A South American butterfly flapped its wings, and caused a flurry of nanotechnology research to happen in Ohio. Researchers here have taken a new look at butterfly wings and rice leaves, and learned things about their microscopic ...

Making a better wound dressing—with fish skin

With a low price tag and mild flavor, tilapia has become a staple dinnertime fish for many Americans. Now it could have another use: helping to heal our wounds. In the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, scientists ...

Amazing skin gives sharks a push

Shark skin has long been known to improve the fish's swimming performance by reducing drag, but now George Lauder and Johannes Oeffner from Harvard University show that in addition, the skin generates thrust, giving the fish ...

Off the scales: Fish armor both tough and flexible

Humans have drawn technological inspiration from fish scales going back to ancient times: Romans, Egyptians, and other civilizations would dress their warriors in scale armor, providing both protection and mobility. Now, ...

Fish camouflage sends mixed messages to aggro males

Colour-changing fish have only one skin, but they use it to communicate social status, attract mates, avoid predators and more. So what happens when those functions collide?

How this little see-through fish gets its rainbow shimmer

You can see right through this little aquarium fish from Thailand: Its skin is almost completely transparent. But when the light hits it just right, its body flickers with shimmering rainbow colors.

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